2004-08-24
Madam Speaker Braham took the Chair at 10 am.
Mr STIRLING (Racing, Gaming and Licensing): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to inform the House that community groups throughout the Territory have received grants from the latest round of the Community Benefit Fund. Under the round, the second one for 2003-04, more than $350 000 has been distributed to a total of 128 community groups.
The regional breakdown is as follows: 25 grants approved for Alice Springs worth $74 801; six grants approved for Tennant Creek worth $12 200; nine grants for the outer-Darwin region worth $28 466; 13 grants for the Katherine region worth $32 887; nine grants for East Arnhem worth $27 324; and 66 grants for the Darwin region worth $174 978.
While funding requests far exceeded the available budget, unsuccessful organisations are encouraged to apply for a grant under the next funding round.
Government is proud to be able to assist the efforts of community groups throughout the Territory through this Community Benefit Fund. It was set up by government to ensure that a proportion of the money received from the operation of electronic gaming machines is made available to directly assist development of Territory communities. Non-profit Territory-based organisations are able to apply for grants of up to $5000 for approved community projects and activities.
The true purpose of this fund was lost under the former government, which had no clear guidelines and chose to use it for blatant pork-barrelling in the lead-up to the election. In the report tabled in February 2002, the Auditor-General raised serious questions about the way this fund had been managed by the former government. As a result, we reviewed the fund to ensure its use was transparent and subject to proper controls. We introduced comprehensive guidelines and grant application packages. We introduced legislation to clearly identify the specific purposes for which these grants may be used. We established a committee made up of government and community representatives to advise the government on the allocation of grants from the fund. It is now dispersed two times each financial year.
Initially, some $600 000 was available, but the government has since increased that amount to around $700 000 each year. Since the first grants were handed out under the new-look Community Benefit Fund early last year, more than $1.3m has been distributed to 470 community groups throughout the Territory.
I acknowledge the work that the CBF committee has done since it was established. They give very careful consideration to each application and provide impartial recommendations to me on how those grants should be distributed.
I particularly acknowledge the Chair of the committee up until now, Andrew Smith. Andrew has also served the Territory as Commissioner for Taxation and Director of the Racing, Gaming and Licensing Division for a number of years. Andrew is off to Brisbane shortly. I thank him for his chairmanship of the Community Benefit Fund Committee. He has done an exceptional job. I am sure we all, in this House, wish him the best of luck for his new life in Brisbane.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I add the opposition’s best wishes to Andrew Smith and his wife as they move to Queensland.
Minister, I note the quantum of funds flowing to community groups. I trust that administration of these funds by sporting and community groups will be permitted in ways that they determine, as properly constituted bodies, unlike the actions of the Minister for Sport and Recreation who likes to wield a big stick and exercise bullying tactics over sporting and community groups with regard to the disbursement of funding and commitment that has been made on behalf of Territorians to sporting groups.
In light of your government’s decision to increase the availability of electronic gaming machines within our community and, on a number of occasions, the reported increase in the level of gambling in our community, I note there has been no indication of an increase in funding to Amity or Anglicare. These two worthy organisations have repeatedly lobbied you, and your government, to have funding increased to them so it is no longer capped, but increased to reflect the rising levels of gambling problems within our community.
It was only last Saturday that I received a phone call in my electorate office from a person who is seeking to set up a Gamblers Anonymous group within the Northern Territory and is seeking funding. I will now direct that person to you, minister, to see whether you can assist this lady, Amity and Anglicare.
Mr STIRLING (Racing, Gaming and Licensing): Madam Speaker, I have had quite intense discussions with Anglicare, Amity, Sommerville and a whole range of service providers in this area over the past few weeks in relation to releasing a fairly large grant for research funds into problem gambling. It may be that there are other organisations apart from Anglicare and Amity which have had a monopoly on the funding available over recent years. We are going to look at that very closely, but we remain in close touch with them and we will continue to work through those issues.
I wish the Leader of the Opposition would stop referring to the fact that we are increasing the number of machines in the community. There is no truth to that statement. We have changed the parameters under which venues may apply for gaming machines. To say we are increasing the number of machines in the community is simply not true at the moment. There may be an increase over time, but that is not the intent of the changes we made.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, on 16 February this year, with my colleague, the Minister for Family and Community Services, I had the pleasure of launching the government’s vision for health and well-being of Territorians. Building Healthier Communities outlines the commitment, direction and priorities of the government for health and community services over the next five years. Today, I wish to outline to the Assembly what we have done already to convert this vision into action.
Building Healthier Communities is based on six key areas for improving health and well-being within the Territory. They are: giving kids a good start in life; strengthening families and communities; getting serious about Aboriginal health; creating better pathways for health services; filling service gaps; and tackling substance abuse.
These are supported by four ways in which we will work to improve the health and community system as a whole: building quality health and community services; creating better ways of working together; valuing and supporting our work force; and creating a Health Information Network.
We are determined that Building Healthier Communities will lead to real change. Accordingly, the Minister for Family and Community Services and I handed it over to the Department of Health and Community Services to put into action. 15 000 copies have now been distributed and they are evident in every delivery site I have been visiting over the last nine months. I am pleased to be able to report solid progress already.
Our commitment to community engagement and public accountability, and recognition that the Territory’s complex health and well-being issues cannot be solved by a single department acting alone, led the department to an extensive consultation process. These consultations involved internal staff, external providers and key stakeholders. It was led by the departmental executive and resulted in 2100 individuals contributing their ideas and suggestions through either face-to-face contact or written submissions. This also incorporated input from 185 external organisations across the Territory. Public input was encouraged through invitations in the media and on the department’s web site.
All this input has now been captured and synthesised into themes and key priorities. This information is then being used to inform the content of business plans in all areas of health and community services for priorities over the next 12 months.
A suite of plans has now been endorsed to meet the diverse business of this department, which covers all the various programs within both the core service and policy divisions. There are plans about knowledge management, human resources and work force development. An Aboriginal action plan will inform core service provision across the department.
Critically, regional plans, such as the one from Katherine that I launched about four weeks ago, have been made to address cross-program requirements with specific regional flavour. It was a great pleasure to launch the Katherine Regional Plan on behalf of minister Scrymgour and myself on July 15 in Katherine, and the Central Australian Plan in Alice Springs on 5 August. The East Arnhem Regional Plan was launched on 9 August in Nhulunbuy.
Exciting for minister Scrymgour and I is that everywhere we have been in the Territory since its launch, we have seen Building Healthier Communities and heard people talking about it. The dialogue between the department and the community has created a widespread sense of ownership of the action plans that are now emerging.
Building Healthier Communities has really engaged staff and community. To share with you one anecdote: a nurse working in one of the Top End remote communities, Borroloola, travelled several kilometres to visit two outstations. In each of the outstations, she led focus groups of at least 15 stakeholders and then provided detailed summaries to the various programs to inform their planning, such was her willingness to share information and commitment to ensure that the most remote input was captured.
Over the next 12 months, the department will work closely with stakeholder groups to strengthen partnerships and collaborative arrangements in addressing ways to move forward on issues of importance.
Madam Speaker, it is fair to say that the department has gone through enormous changes in the last 12 months. Building Healthier Communities gives our health and community services system clear directions and priorities, and we are confident, thanks to the huge efforts of staff, that Building Healthier Communities will become a plan of action, not just another strategy that sits and gathers dust.
Ms CARTER (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I am quite sure the minister has had plenty of advice and information provided to him by his staff to tell him how wonderfully it is all going and how much the staff across the department have welcomed this.
Obviously, I have different information from staff and, quite frankly, they see it as rearranging the deck chairs yet again. The government is trying to look busy when, in fact, nothing much is changing. I encourage the minister to concentrate on a couple of key issues, one of which is shortage of general beds within many of our hospitals and the other is recruitment and retention of nursing staff in particular.
I am reliably informed that at present we are short nine community health nurses in the Palmerston and Darwin area. One of the reasons nurses are not staying is, for some reason, management’s refusal to offer these nurses part-time work when many of the have family situations that do not allow them to work full-time and they request part-time.
Minister, these booklets and glossies are all very well in their lovely blue livery, however there are some core issues undermining your work. I suggest you tackle them.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, it is interesting that the doom and gloom has come again, but while the member for Port Darwin has been sitting in Darwin taking phone calls from occasional disaffected people, I have been to 24 delivery sites, many of them in remote areas. It is about time you got out there and had a look at some of the delivery sites and spoke to some of the staff. You cannot do it by remote control; you have to get out there and talk to people at their workplaces.
That is what we are doing. I have been to 24 delivery sites in the last nine months, many of them remote. More than producing a booklet, we are going out and personally discussing with our agency staff and other stakeholders the directions that we are going to take.
I can assure you, Madam Speaker, there is a fantastic spirit out there. If you want to pour a bucket of cold water over it, that is at your peril politically.
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, I wish to report to the House progress on moving Northern Territory Soccer ahead and, indeed, to resolving issues that may have threatened the viability of the $5m multipurpose pitches and grandstand at Marrara.
Clearly, all of us are looking forward to all sporting codes enjoying success and a strong future. In the case of soccer, this particularly applies to a strong future for the youngsters in the game. In recent weeks, my office has been in receipt of a number of letters, e-mails and other representations that suggest the Territory soccer fraternity is deeply divided on certain issues. This was extremely troubling to me and, indeed, people within the soccer community.
It was an absolute requirement of both the national Crawford Inquiry into Soccer as well as the local independent review of the code that soccer unites under a single flag that is truly capable of representing all interests of the sport. This was an absolute requirement of government for the allocation of $5m towards the Marrara facility. It was a fundamental principle agreed to by the various factions in soccer over a number of meetings I have held with them over the last six months. They all understood funding of the Marrara facility, not to mention increased funding to the Soccer Federation, was absolutely contingent on achieving performance targets.
Statements I made to the Northern Territory News and other media outlets in the last few days have been a wake-up call, one I did not make lightly. I am particularly concerned at the damage disunity in the code would have on the 2000 or so kids who play soccer every week. We recently funded $500 000 towards improving junior facilities throughout the Territory and, frankly, disunity among the adults involved in administration of the sport is a very bad look.
It is with pleasure that I report to the House that Daryl Manzie, a former minister in this place and current patron of soccer in the Northern Territory, has agreed to sit down alongside me over the next three days and conduct separate meetings with all the factions. Hopefully, we can clear the air once and for all. This includes the Darwin Premier Soccer League, the Territory Amateur Soccer League, the juniors, the referees and the ladies. Both Daryl and I will be meeting with the Northern Territory Soccer Federation, headed by Ziko Ilic, at the end of the week.
We may end up looking like the Laurel and Hardy of peacemakers, but both Daryl and I, like everyone in this place, values the Territory philosophy of being able to sit down and talk things through to the benefit of us all. I mention to the House that Daryl is giving up an important training session for his up-and-coming membership of the Australian National Dragon Boat racing team, so he is being a good sport in more ways than one. I am going into these meetings with an open mind and do not seek to pre-judge their outcomes.
It is, however, my hope that we can resolve the outstanding issues that soccer is required to meet in order to receive the extra funding allocated to them in the last budget, not to mention the multipurpose facility at Marrara. This includes resolving the issue of advertising for a senior position as CEO of the Northern Territory Soccer Federation and meeting the other time lines required of them by the independent review of soccer.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, the nub of this issue is that you have a minister who is interfering over a properly constituted board. To stand outside that board and say: ‘I have $5m, I do not mind carrying a big stick, you sack your CEO or you will not get the $5m’, is the action of a thug rather than a minister of the Crown. They are, indeed!
Your actions, minister, are resulting in enhancing the increased conflict and division within the code, and now you have to resort to an endeavour to create some peace by calling in Mr Daryl Manzie, who has also been deeply offended by the actions that you have displayed.
You understand, too, that it was the local code which was the very first code to implement the recommendations of the Crawford Review. I put it to you, minister, that there are gentlemen right across our country who have been concerned about your actions. I suggest you pick up the phone and talk to Mr Frank Lowey about the actions of a minister of the Crown who would treat a constituted board in this way.
Are your actions to try to create a harmony within this code, or divide it? Your actions are creating division and that is why you need Mr Manzie. The issue that we all need to understand is this: is the $5m that your government has committed to the code going to be spent on the code or not? Or are you just going to play games? That money has been committed from the beginning by the CLP and we stand by that commitment. We support soccer; you divide it!
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I am also a great supporter of soccer, and I was disappointed by the minister’s comments in the paper on the weekend. I support the CEO. He is doing an excellent job in trying to solve a difficult problem.
I attended a meeting about three weeks ago at the Holiday Inn, which was to discuss the formation of the new body that was required by the Crawford Review to run soccer. The CEO explained how players would vote for their representatives, and how you would have representatives from junior, women and referees. It was disappointing that at that meeting there was a particular group who seemed to want to boycott that meeting. I ask the minister to make sure that, when he criticises the CEO, he also carefully looks at whether people are deliberately trying to undermine what the CEO is trying to do in a very tight timetable. He is very committed to introducing the reforms of the Crawford Review. That was emphasised during that meeting.
We should support the CEO. I would rather the CEO is allowed to have his say and the minister stay out for the time being.
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, government has made a significant financial commitment to soccer. It is important that there is transparency and accountability and acquittal of all taxpayers’ money.
The appointment of a highly credentialled chief executive officer is important to lead soccer into the future. For example, look at Chris Natt from AFLNT, Neil Dalrymple from NT Cricket; and Tim Heath from Rugby. I have stated consistently that advertising the position of CEO and all positions at the NTSF was vital to the transparent acquittal of the money. Mr Milliken applied for the new position. If Mr Milliken is not successful, consideration should then be given to honouring his current contract through a different role. I will keep working with Northern Territory Soccer towards a bright future.
Madam SPEAKER: Before I go on, Leader of the Opposition do you recall me saying last week that we should not use Christian names in our asides? You did it three times in the minister’s report, so could you please refrain from doing it again?
Mr MILLS: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Mr VATSKALIS: (Ethnic Affairs): Madam Speaker, I provide the Assembly with a report of the outcomes of round one of the 2004-05 Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program.
The budget for the 2004-05 Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program is a record $717 000, which does not include the $0.5m per annum for the next three years available through the Ethnic Communities Facilities Development Program.
In response to invitations to apply for funding under round one of the Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program, the Office of Ethnic Affairs received 37 applications requesting assistance, totalling $837 000. Four of these applications related to capital works and, accordingly, the applicants were advised to apply under the new $0.5m Ethnic Communities Facilities Development Program. Two of the applications were for events taking place in June and so were funded through the 2003-04 Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program. Of the remaining applications, I have approved sponsorship totalling $405 000 for 23 applications.
In addition, as committed during 2003-04, $12 000 was provided for the Indonesian Cultural Festival, which took place on 15 August. Consequently, the overall amount approved for round one was $470 000. I table for honourable members a full list of the projects that have been funded.
The Office of Ethnic Affairs has called for applications from community groups under the Cultural and Linguistic Awards in the Centralian Advocate on 20 August and the NT News on 21 August. The Office of Ethnic Affairs has also sent copies of the guidelines and application forms to migrant and ethnic community organisations.
The Cultural and Linguistic Awards makes available $150 000 with the aim of providing opportunities for individuals and ethnic community groups to undertake research, further study, or specialised training in languages or other cultural activities related to their ethnic origins. The closing date for applications is 24 September 2004. To further advance our multicultural society, I hope that honourable members will encourage their migrant and ethnic constituents to develop projects to maintain, develop, and share their diverse cultures with other Territorians.
I also take this opportunity to inform honourable members of three forthcoming festivals funded through the Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program. They are the Filipino Barrio Fiesta, which will take place on 28 August at the community’s Batten Road facilities; the revived Italian Cultural Festival to be held in September; and the Oktoberfest.
Because of the support provided under the sponsorship program by the NT government, it has been possible for the Indian Cultural Society and Tracks Dance, with support from the Sri Lanka Australia Friendship Association, to bring exciting artists from India and Sri Lanka to participate at this year’s Darwin Festival.
Madam Speaker, last evening I had the pleasure of hosting members of the Indian and Sri Lankan communities living in Darwin at a function in the Main Hall. I was very impressed with the two items that these visiting artists performed for invited guests. The Purna Das Baul Group from India has completed its performances and were enthusiastically received by audiences in Darwin and Arnhem Land at the Garma Festival. The Sama Ballet Dancers from Sri Lanka will be performing alongside the Tracks Dance Company dancers when they present Snakes, Gods and Deities at Garden’s Park Golf Links from tomorrow. I urge members of this House to see this great performance.
In the budget that was presented in May of this year, the NT government provided the sum of $0.5m per annum for three years to assist ethnic communities to renovate and upgrade existing facilities. This latest initiative establishes a dedicated, transparent program which will be supported by detailed eligibility and acquittal criteria. The government has recently called for expressions of interest under this program and it is hoped to allocate funds to qualified community groups by the end of this calendar year.
I am proud of the support that this government has provided ethnic communities since it came to office in August 2001. I assure all these communities that our government will continue its efforts to improve the quality of life in the Territory by promoting a truly multicultural lifestyle.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I congratulate the minister for his report and share in his enthusiasm for the ethnic communities in the Northern Territory. I have noticed that this government has continued the good work that the CLP government did in previous years.
The Barrio festival is a very significant festival for the Filipino community. It is a pity that the Alice Springs community, which wanted to join with the Darwin Filipino community to enjoy the Barrio festival, have not been able to get here due to lack of funds. Some 80 people are interested in coming to Darwin, and I suggest to the minister that he considers this and assists the Alice Springs community to come to next year’s Barrio festival so that the whole of the Territory celebrates this Filipino event, rather than just the northern suburbs.
I congratulate the Australian Darwin Cantonese Opera Association for putting on the Yue Ju Chinese opera last weekend. In my youth, I recall turning up for similar shows in Malaysia. They are the community highlight every so often when they turn up.
In closing, I also congratulate the Northern Territory Dragon Boat Association, which started as an ethnic community event some six years ago under the auspices of the Chung Wah Society. They are sending a team of paddlers to Shanghai to compete in the world championships this year to compete as the representative team from Australia wearing the green and gold. From a little community event, it is now a mainstream sport and we have Australian representatives in an international championship. That is terrific.
Mr VATSKALIS (Ethnic Affairs): Madam Speaker, it is great to have bipartisan support for our multicultural society. I agree with the member for Greatorex: I would like to see the Filipino community of Alice Springs come to Darwin. When I was in Alice Springs I met with them. They advised me that the cost was significant. We suggested a different way of coming to Darwin, by chartering a bus, and we offered to provide funding to allow people to come to Darwin by paying about $40 or $50 each for the return trip. I believe that the community is negotiating the situation and, hopefully, with assistance from government, will be able to take part in the Barrio Fiesta.
I congratulate the Chinese community because bringing the Cantonese opera to Darwin is significant. It is one way of showing the culture and the cultural achievements of the Chinese community in China to a broader audience.
I wish good luck to all the participants in the Dragon Boat races when the team competes in China. Our government and I, personally, will support every ethnic community and communities of a non-English speaking background.
Reports noted pursuant to Sessional Order.
Continued from 20 May 2004.
Mr BALDWIN (Daly): Madam Speaker, I should say at the outset that we will not be supporting this amendment to the Parks and Wildlife Commission Act because we would not be moving in the way that the Labor government has moved in regard to Parks and Wildlife, and that is to consume it into a mega-department, being Infrastructure, Planning and Environment.
We would, and, I am sure the Leader of the Opposition will reinforce this, in the future, as a government, reinstate the autonomy of the Parks and Wildlife Commission as a separate entity, certainly with a board of commissioners because we believe that is the right model for an entity to be looking after the interests of our parks estate. That has always been our view on Parks and Wildlife and the Commission.
This amendment to the act draws the assumption that, as a consequence of the reorganisation of the public sector and the administrative arrangements, the Parks and Wildlife area was taken into Infrastructure, Planning and Environment and that has led to a potential governance issue. That is why there is a need for this amendment.
Minister, had you not pulled Parks and Wildlife into the mega-department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, you would not have this governance issue. It is by your actions that you have to amend the Parks and Wildlife Act to reconstitute the Commission board, which has, until you came to government, acted in a very positive and effective manner for many years. It has evolved as a board with a lot of powers and has seen some pre-eminent board members, not to mention chairpersons of that Commission. Harry Butler, in times gone past, delivered independent advice to government and was never backward in coming forward, publicly even, to give that advice on behalf of all Territorians and, importantly, the parks estate.
What you have done, since coming to government, is get rid of that. You have now found you have a governance issue because you have dragged this into a mega-department and, I might add, by doing so, upset morale of the staff within the area of Parks and Wildlife. You have also deprived yourself of good, independent advice to government; people like Galarrwuy Yunupingu served on that Commission as a board member appointed by government. All sorts of people over time have sat on the board, a board with powers and functions in its own right, a board that had to meet four times a year. Tell me whether they have still been meeting four times a year, or have you been negligent in respect of the act, which you come in here to amend?
What is your answer? You have found yourself with potential governance issues; you want to make the Chief Executive Officer ‘the commission’. You can have his advice by picking up the telephone any given day at any given hour. If you are looking for a good, effective, transparent way of running our parks estate, surely you would have kept the advice of independent members of a commission that had certain powers, and powers that were not insubstantial; they were quite well laid out as functions of the commission. They are all outlined in the act:
This amendment, you say, is an interim measure and that, in future, there will be all sorts of amendments to the act to provide what you claim to be a suitable way of managing our parks estate, whereas the commission was set up as a body corporate for perpetual succession.
What you are doing now by reconstituting the commission is to make the CEO, in effect, ‘the commission’. I noticed in your second reading speech you included all sorts of other issues about how that model exists within the Department of Employment, Education and Training in which the Chief Executive Officer of DEET is ‘the Work Health Authority’. I myself oversaw the same thing at the Housing Commission and made the Chief Executive Officer ‘the Housing Commission’.
In terms of the parks estate, which is owned entirely by the people of the Northern Territory, you have chosen to get rid of advisors who, in the past, have shown how effective they can be, and how they can change the will of government by the very powers and functions with which they have been vested under this act, and by publicly demonstrating that they have, in the past, had the parks estate at heart, first and foremost.
If you put it in that context, then look at what is going on with the parks framework agreement, anyone with reasonable logic would have to think that this is the most important time when government, your government, should have good independent advice; when you are moving to hand over parks, which are currently owned by all Territorians, to the interests of traditional owners.
Would you not think that this is the very time that you should be having good, solid advice? What do you do? Scrap it. You are scrapping it to the Chief Executive Officer of the department. Where is your advice from independent people who have powers and functions vested in them to look after, first and foremost, the interests of our parks and wildlife; our flora and fauna; our parks estate; the future development of the parks estate; and the impact of changes on the parks estate? Surely, this is the time, like no other, that you would want good, independent advice. For three years, you have not had that advice, and now you are going to get rid of the board because you have found yourself in a conundrum. You have decided to whack Parks and Wildlife into this mega-department. You have decreased the morale of everyone working there and you now have a governance issue.
Do you know the simple answer rather than this amendment? Extract them. Make them a stand-alone department. Reinstate the commission, and then you will not need this useless amendment. That is what we will do because that is what we think of the parks estate and the advice of pre-eminent people who have long experience in land matters, conservation matters and flora and fauna protection. That is what we would do.
Because you have a governance issue, you want to downgrade the level of advice, collapse this and, in the future, if I am reading your second reading speech correctly, get rid of it. That, to us, is not on. That is why we are going to oppose this. It is a very logical argument. I know you will not agree with it, but that is our position. That is the difference between the CLP and Labor. You do not want anyone knowing what you are doing with the parks. You do not want independent advice about what you are doing with the …
Dr Burns: You did not want to know; you did not ask for a briefing.
Mr BALDWIN: I have had the briefing. I have had the briefing from the Chief Minister. That is what you know. I have had the briefing.
That is where we are coming from. You do not want the advice; you do not want people to know. Remember in Estimates, minister, I asked you whether parks were a part of the Territory lifestyle. Remember your banner ‘Jobs and lifestyle’ and all the rest of it? I asked you where it was in any of your budget papers or any of your speeches that you had highlighted for Territorians the fact that you were handing over parks, that you were giving away their ownership of some of their parks estate. You answered: ‘It is not in there, but we will make them aware’. Well, I have not heard it.
There is no way that we would support this. We certainly will be moving, when we are in government, to reinstate it. There is much to be said for the way the commission was structured under our tenure; was for a period under yours, but is now defunct. I suggest to you that it became a leading-edge model around Australia, if not internationally.
Where else? You can name them. Where else did anyone have that model under which a commission, a board of people, had an undisputed, fair degree of autonomy as set out in the Parks and Wildlife Act that it could involve itself in the management of parks, which it did? This is just rude to Territorians. It is rude to the passionate people who work in Parks and Wildlife, about the degree of autonomy that they have lost since you have come to government. Now they are going to further lose that degree. What are you going to do? What are you going to do to ameliorate that? You are going to set up an advisory council. The bill says:
(1) The minister must establish a council to advise the Commission on matters concerning the management of parks and wildlife.
What are their powers and functions compared with the ones you are getting rid of? All the bill says is that they will advise. They will advise the commission, now being the CEO, one person. He does not have to take their advice. They have no other powers except to provide the advice. It does not say anything within your amendments to the act about how many times they have to meet. What jumps out is that there is no time line on when you have to form this advisory committee. It just says ‘the minister must’. It does not say when, just that you must.
I assume, being the cynical person I am, that you will not be seeking any advice until at least 31 December when the Chief Minister’s Parks Framework Bill either is taken up as an offer or the act expires at that date. You will not be seeking any advice from anyone because you do not want it. You have an agenda to hand over our parks without consultation, without making Territorians aware; certainly not highlighted as a new lifestyle initiative in any of your budget papers, and you will not be seeking any advice from independent, eminent people on your government’s proposal, an offer that is currently on the table for the land councils to give away a plethora of parks and to enter …
Dr Burns: No one is giving away anything!
Mr BALDWIN: You are! They are currently owned by whom, minister, picking up on your interjection, that you are not giving away anything?
Dr Burns: No one is giving away anything.
Mr BALDWIN: Currently, they are owned by all Territorians …
Dr Burns: Stop all your scare tactics!
Mr BALDWIN: … and you are the landlord!
Dr Burns: Pathetic!
Mr BALDWIN: You are the landlord! Here you are making an offer. The offer is sitting in this House of parliament, to traditional owners to give it to them! Give it to them!
Mr Henderson: Rubbish!
Mr BALDWIN: Are we selling it? ‘Rubbish’, they say, Madam Speaker! Can I ask the simple question: how much are Territorians being paid for these parks that we are handing over to them? How much are we being paid?
Dr Burns: How much did you pay for the Kenbi Land claim?
Mr BALDWIN: And they talk about the Kenbi land claim!
Dr Burns: $20m!
Mr BALDWIN: Have they resolved the Kenbi land claim, Madam Speaker?
Dr Burns: What about the Borroloola claims? Still grinding on!
Mr BALDWIN: They talk eloquently about litigation, but let us have a look at this offer.
Dr Burns: You would rather put the money in lawyers’ pockets!
Mr BALDWIN: Let us have a look at this offer. How many parks have you taken out of this offer? Why? You want to litigate them!
Dr Burns: Squandering money! That is all the CLP ever did!
Mr BALDWIN: They wanted to litigate them! So on the one hand ...
Dr Burns: Squandering it on bloody lawyers!
Mr BALDWIN: … on the one hand ...
Mr BURKE: A point of order, Madam Speaker. I would ask the minister to withdraw or either put that comment by substantive motion to suggest that the CLP was somehow laundering money.
Dr BURNS: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker, I said ‘squandering’, not ‘laundering’.
Madam SPEAKER: In that case, there is no point of order. Minister, you should refrain from interjecting. Allow the member for Daly to complete his remarks.
Dr Burns: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Mr BALDWIN: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can speak in a loud voice if they want to interject because I invite them to if they think I am saying the wrong thing, but I am telling you what we believe.
In terms of the offer on the table, they made a lot of play about: ‘We will not do what the CLP did and waste millions on litigating in court’, yet at the same time they have the offer on the table, we have discovered, not just on parks but other land issues, that they are indeed litigating against native title claimants and land councils in matters relating to land.
It is a nice spin to say that millions have been spent, but we do not stand back from the fact that millions may have been spent in the interests of all Territorians. The parks offer they are talking about is taking away what is currently owned by all Territorians and giving it - there are no other words for it - to traditional owners of the Northern Territory. That has a long way to go. They are having their problems with the offer and there have been a number of parks withdrawn from the offer. The traditional owners and government will now have to litigate.
The question of cost arises. We have asked this question many times, and I asked at the briefing from the Chief Minister: what is the value of the parks that have been given away? The Chief Minister refuses to answer that question …
Ms Martin: On what basis? R4, perhaps?
Mr BALDWIN: What basis? What basis?
Ms Martin: Do you want an R4 valuation, Tim? Come on, Tim!
Mr BALDWIN: I have said many times in the debate on the previous legislation that all land can be valued. The Australian Valuation Office will give a valuation on anything you like. If you want a valuation on the stationery on your desk, they will value it. If you want it on land that is owned by the Northern Territory government, they will give you a valuation.
The Chief Minister and the minister for Parks, time and time again, when asked about the value of the land that is being handed over, that is currently owned by all Territorians, are silent because they do not want Territorians to know the value of this offer. Yet at the same time, they say the Australian Valuation Office can determine a lease payment on all of the parks they have on offer to hand over.
If the Australian Valuation Office can determine a value on the lease, which one would assume is based on the value of the land, why not tell Territorians the value of the land, the parks that you are taking away from them, and giving to traditional owners? Territorians have a right to know. When we talk about lease payments, because the offer is about leasing these parks and reserves back from the traditional owners, we have not heard one bit of information from government about the cost. All the Chief Minister keeps saying is: ‘The CLP did it with Nitmiluk’. Yes, we did. How much was that? Chief Minister, I think you said on radio about $150 000 …
Ms Martin: $140 000, I think.
Mr BALDWIN: $140 000 or $150 000, I think you said on radio.
Ms Martin: $140 000. It was a deal you did.
Mr BALDWIN: $140 000. I will use your figures; you do the maths. $140 000 for Nitmiluk. How many parks and reserves are you talking about giving away? How many parks and reserves, Madam Speaker, is the Chief Minister talking about giving away? $150 000 minimum annual rent times 99 years. How much do yo think that is going to cost Territorians? Do the maths! It is hundreds of millions of dollars …
Mr Henderson: Oh, rubbish!
Mr BALDWIN: Okay. Let’s do the maths. Is it 20 parks? Let us add up the schedule. How many parks and reserves are we talking about? Let us say it is 20 that you end up with, so 20 by $150 000 a year. How much is that? $3m per year times 99 years, say 100, take off three, that is $297m. $297m it will cost Territorians for land and an asset and a parks estate that they already own. They already own it, Madam Speaker! So if you want to talk about costs, you put the money on the table. I can only go on my own calculations, and they may well be wrong.
They refuse to put costs to Territorians on the table, and it is time that they did. 31 December is drawing very near. At 31 December, the Chief Minister will inform us, Territorians, that she is either giving away our parks, or that the bill expires and the land councils will not take up the offer. However, she must, before that time, tell Territorians what this offer of hers is going to cost.
Please, while you are on your feet, minister, wrapping up this debate, tell us who is advising you. You want to get rid of the only advice that was available to you outside of your department, good advice, and you want to get rid of it. In the context of the biggest upheaval to the parks estate yet facing Territorians, you walk in here with this amendment because you have a potential governance issue and you want to get rid of good advice and good advisors.
You are pathetic, and that is why we oppose it. This is a model that worked, it is a model that has been at the forefront of models anywhere, particularly in Australia, probably internationally. It has worked to give good advice over many years, including all of the impacts on the parks estate, not just tourism, but native title and Aboriginal cultural issues. There have been some pre-eminent people who have been well versed in Aboriginal cultural issues giving government advice, and now you have sacked them. You are going to go back to ‘the commission’ being the CEO. How bloody pathetic and incompetent could a government be to get rid of them? That is totally disrespectful to Northern Territorians. On that basis, Madam Speaker, we will not be supporting this amendment.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, now we have it in writing, in a second reading speech from the minister responsible for Parks and Wildlife, no less: public service process beats performance and experience any day of the week; a single public servant is better than any number of ordinary people irrespective of their qualifications and skills any day of the week; one public service department is the same as any other. They are administrative units that can be run according to the handbook of centralised authority; and there is no need for any particular expertise, even in such a specialised area like Parks and Wildlife.
It is a funny thing, minister, there used to be a difference. As Labor tries to rewrite Territory history to expunge the huge successes of CLP governments, along with any allegiance to the flag, it wants Territorians to forget just how well things worked when there was a genuine partnership between government and the community. One of the first initiatives of the CLP government at the time of self-government was to establish the Conservation Commission to reflect the Territory’s focus on conserving our natural heritage for long term profit, not exploiting it for short term gain.
The Conservation Commission eventually evolved into the Parks and Wildlife Commission, or Service, but its role was much the same. The CLP believed tourism was the first major new industry to be developed in the new Northern Territory. We believed then, and we still do, that our network of national parks was the basis for that tourism industry. Parks are the backbone of our tourism industry. The founders of the Territory and the Conservation Commission recognised this. Research now shows this to be true. Around 70% of tourists now come to look at our parks. Sadly, Labor does not share this view; that good management and access to parks are important.
Since coming to power, the ALP has launched a systematic campaign against our parks. The CLP recognises that running those parks properly, safeguarding the diverse range of flora, fauna and natural attractions, was a huge job. Take a visit to some of these parks; notice the decline. They have deteriorated under this government. It is a huge job needing the expertise of people with skills as diverse as the topography of the parks themselves.
That is why members of the Parks and Wildlife Board or Commission were such an illustrious group: There was Harry Butler of In the Wild fame; Bill Freeland, an eminent scientist with a worldwide reputation, who Labor sacked last year as head of the Parks and Wildlife Commission because he did not fit the ‘one size fits all’ public service and its political commissars; Wenten Rubuntja and Galarrwuy Yunupingu at different times. Apart from serving as Chairman of the Central and Northern Land Councils respectively, these men had enormous knowledge and skill to contribute, built up over generations of their immediate families being in leadership roles in the Aboriginal community. They could give a whole new dimension to the phrase ‘looking after country’.
There was Keith Lansdowne, a cattleman and long-time Chairman of the Pastoral Land Board and Chairman of Katherine Rural College, a man who obviously new the country like the back of his hand. It was also very handy knowledge to have, especially when you consider that some of our most important parks were originally pastoral leases. There is plenty of interplay between the cattle industry and our parks estate. There was Ian Barker QC, a prominent member of the old NT Reserves Board, and one of a small group of Territorians who were instrumental in the establishment of Kakadu National Park. There was Patty Buntine, widow of Territory trucking legend Noel Buntine, who was particularly effective as a community representative on the governing body of our parks.
Reg Harris was another, and there were eminent scientists like Peter Whitehead and Peter Bridgewater who, I believe, is now on the world body charged with preserving whale species. They were not light weights, these people who gave us this precious legacy of our parks estate.
It took years, a lot skill and hard work to build up the network of parks we now have. Now this government is negotiating a massive park give-away. The Chief Minister’s claim is that to do it her way will be cheaper. Please explain to me how it will be cost effective to give away a park that you already own, that has no prospect or possibility of a claim being successful against it, and then paying to lease it back.
It is interesting to note that the Chief Minister can find the money to fight her own and the Minister for Community Development’s defamation cases, but it is all too hard and expensive to fight to keep ownership of our parks and put claims against the Northern Territory people to a vigorous test with Labor’s ham-fisted approach that is quickly unravelling. I will add: our parks estate is clearly heading for uncharted and troubled waters.
We need the expertise of the Parks and Wildlife Commission of old as we have never needed it before. What do we get? A single public service boss, already stretched trying to administer the biggest of Labor’s super-departments, will be the sole CEO of the Parks and Wildlife Service or whatever Labor decides to call it in the end.
The minister used a lot of weasel words in his second reading speech on 20 May this year. He tried to misrepresent the truth and that is, sadly, par for the course. He talked about the Parks and Reserves (Framework for the Future) Act introduced in November 2003, and then went on:
So we have it: a one public servant commission. This is from our open, transparent and accountable government, which is very much into partnerships with the community. There is going to be an advisory body to advise this super public servant, but it is a toothless mouth. It can talk, but it cannot bite. Before Labor, Parks and Wildlife commissioners had real power. The Chief Executive had to take direction on policy from the commissioners; had to, not just if he or she felt like it.
When Harry Butler, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Keith Landsdowne, Reg Harris and the rest of these eminent people spoke, the public servant running the show had to sit and listen and then act according to lawful directions. The only person this commission made up of a single public servant has to answer to is the minister, and I do not think the minister is all that knowledgeable on national parks. During budget Estimates, he demonstrated he was particularly ignorant on implications of native title legislation as well as the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act of 1976. His answers to the member for Brennan at that time were along the lines that lawyers in the Department of Justice know all about that sort of stuff and these anonymous lawyers would safeguard the Territory’s interests. This is at a time when native title is being tested over some of our most important parks.
The minister does not have a clue and the one person commission does not have a background in nature conservation, tourism, law or land rights; just in administration. So what should be done? The minister and his Labor government’s folly, and its lack of respect for our greatest natural asset, is clear for all to see. How can it be remedied?
In government, the CLP will begin by reinstating the Parks and Wildlife Commission Board. We will appoint independent experts to that panel. It is the view of Labor, as always, that the best man for the job is a bureaucrat. We disagree. We believe that the experts of the ilk that we have had on the board in the past are the right people for the job. The CLP will give identity back to the department. We will give them back their uniform, the uniform that identifies them in the important and prestigious department that they are in. We will return their identity. We will give Parks and Wildlife the funding and resourcing that it so richly deserves. We will fill the vacant range of positions and make this profession one that is sought after and envied again.
Madam Speaker, I cannot support this bill, nor can the opposition. It takes the management of our parks away from passionate Territorians and experts in their fields and puts it in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats. It gives the power to manage our parks estate to an individual who has no experience in the field. It replaces the board with a toothless advisory group, and it shows this Labor government’s contempt for Territorians and their parks estate.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, my first note on this bill reads: ‘How come only one person can be the commission?’ That sounds alarm bells for me. I have never been a supporter of Parks and Wildlife belonging to the DBIRD super department. I have always felt …
Ms Martin: Sorry, Gerry. DIPE.
Mr Dunham: Like its minister, dippy.
Mr WOOD: I have always …
Mr Dunham: Dippy the dipstick.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, the member for Nelson has the floor.
Mr Dunham: Yes, no worries, Madam Speaker.
Mr WOOD: This is no put down of people who have been in charge of that department, but I have always felt that it is difficult for someone like an engineer or someone who has experience in statistics or public accounts to have an understanding of a department like Parks and Wildlife.
I have always believed that it is an extremely important department and, if anything, I have argued that in some cases we should have had a single Department of the Environment. At least if it came under that department, it would put all relevant issues in one department. Be that as it may, I have not agreed with it being in a great conglomerate that deals with engineering, roads and so on. I believe it is important enough to be on its own.
Be that as it may, there have been comments made about other issues relating to the parks. This amendment has allowed people to speak on other issues, especially the future of our parks. I have debated the issue in parliament before. I welcome more debate on it, but in this case I do not need to comment more than I have in the past.
The commission would be far better if it were as it used to be. I understand the minister has an advisory council. I presume he is saying the council would replace the board. I am coming more from a philosophical point of view: the Parks and Wildlife Commission should be a commission that has a fair amount of autonomy, one that is directly responsible to the minister rather than a large department. That would put our parks and wildlife on a pedestal. In the community in years gone by, Parks and Wildlife was a place that many people would aspire to work in. Rangers were something that many people wanted to be. I am not sure that is so much the case these days.
I would like to see Parks and Wildlife put back into our community as something that we, as Territorians, can be proud. It was something that many people outside of the Territory saw as a wise body that had conservation as its prime goal, and looked at innovative ways of managing our wildlife and conservation estate. For those reasons alone, I will not support this bill.
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, I support the bill. I would like to point out another extraordinary performance by the Leader of the Opposition, who started his address by extensively quoting from the minister’s second reading speech. I have the second reading speech here and I am trying to find the quote; it is not there. I suggest that the Leader of the Opposition has a look at the minister’s second reading speech, then find what he quoted and where it came from.
It is very interesting. We are discussing amendments to parks and wildlife legislation, but it became an opportunity for the members of the opposition to attack the government about joint management and the park issues that will up come later this year. The reality is if we go back to the park issue, the Ward High Court decision of last year held that the declaration of the Keep River National Park was invalid and the finding is a result of the wording of section 12(1) of the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, which only provided, until it was amended in March 1998, that:
Madam Speaker, as a result of that decision, we found that a number of parks declared as parks between 1978 and 1998 were invalid; 49 parks. Not one, not two, not three; 49. Not only that, apart from the parks and reserves that were declared invalid, there were some 11 separate areas of land that had previously been claimed under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act and to which the Conservation Land Corporation had no tenure other than pursuant to section 12. There were problems with declaration of the parks. A High Court decision declared these parks invalid. We had to do something. There were two options: go to court or negotiate.
At the time, the Leader of the Opposition received a briefing and he questioned the advice that the government received from the Solicitor-General. He was advised that the government had sought advice not only from the Solicitor-General, but also from a second counsel, an external counsel. The second opinion not only supported the Solicitor-General’s advice, but did so in more firm and clearer terms regarding the invalidity of the parks. Again, we either had to start paying lawyers, as with the Kenbi Land claim, $20m over 10 years, or sit down with traditional owners and negotiate.
It is not only lawyers who give us this kind of opinion and support the view of the High Court that the parks declaration was invalid, but there are some former members of the public service who have made statements about it. I quote from a paper written by Col Fuller, which was published on the web site of the Darwin Research Centre last year. In his paper, Mr Fuller said:
So even Fuller admits that, in some cases of the Territory parks estate, Aboriginal people have an interest. Not only that, but Mr Fuller, together with Matti Urvett, we all know who they are, ex-public servants, wrote to the Northern Territory government in November 2002 and they said, with regards to joint management:
I do not have to agree totally with Mr Fuller on politics, but least the man is brave. He states the obvious, he states the truth and he is not afraid to publish it on a web site that could not be called a left wing web site, or even a Labor Party sympathetic web site. It was published on the site of the Darwin Research Centre. Mr Fuller also says that:
Mr Fuller clearly states, in his words, exactly what the High Court recognised and what the government is trying to do. We are trying to get out of this difficult issue through negotiation rather than litigation. After all, it is not our money; it is taxpayers’ money and we have to be very careful not to throw it away.
We heard from the members of the opposition about how the parks have been deteriorating. Well, there is a problem there. We have Commonwealth ministers who complain bitterly about how visitors come to the Territory, visit parks and do not visit Kakadu. As a result, the number of visitors in Kakadu is falling, while visitors to our parks are going up and up all the time. It would only take a walk down Mitchell Street, where the tourists and operators are, to determine the opinion of these people with regards to our parks. I had people staying with me who went to Litchfield and came away with the best impressions: it is a fantastic place, there is a variety of landscapes, they can swim safely, they can drive there, there is no problem and they do not have to pay an entry fee.
Kakadu visitation has started to go up thanks to the advertising campaign, but until recently, Kakadu visitor numbers were looking very grim. Now they are going up, thanks to the recent campaign, and our promise that we are prepared to put money towards advertising Kakadu if the Commonwealth is prepared to do the same.
This legislation, which my colleague, the member for Johnston, Minister for Parks and Wildlife, has introduced, is bridging legislation until final issues about park joint management are finalised. Members of the opposition question the ability of the CEO to be a sole person commission. The reality is the CEO is supported by a large number of public servants and scientists who will provide the best advice. Parks and Wildlife people are fantastic people, starting from the admin officers to the rangers to the scientists. Nothing has changed in the past few years. We have not got rid of the rangers or the scientists. Instead, we have employed the best people for the job in Parks and Wildlife, and these people are prepared and aim to provide quality advice on various issues to the CEO.
There will be an advisory board that will provide advice to the CEO. The CEO has to consider this advice, and the CEO has to act on this advice. Now, all the advice we get from advisory boards might not be perfect, it might not be to the best of the members’ of that board’s ability to provide advice but, once again, this advice has to be discussed and has to be considered with advice of the scientists before the CEO acts. You do not have to have a ranger as CEO. You do not have to have a qualified scientist as the CEO to manage the Parks and Wildlife Commission at this stage. After all, the CEO of the Health Department does not have to be a doctor. He receives advice from his officers, scientists, doctors and the Health Department personnel to act in the best interests of the department and Territorians.
I support this legislation. After all, it is an amendment that will bridge the gap between now and the end of the year when the joint management of parks issue will come before us. The opposition has used this legislation to attack the government about the parks issue when they know very well that they are wrong. It was interesting to hear the Leader of the Opposition saying that when they come to government, they will do this, this and this with the Parks and Wildlife Commission. Not once did he say: ‘When we come to government, we are going to challenge this decision of the government; we are going to take the parks back’ because he knows he cannot do that. He knows that the High Court decision was a wise, true, good and very strong decision. He knows it does not matter when he comes to government - if he comes to government - he has to live with the decision of the High Court, and with the situation that Aboriginal people have legitimate interests in these parks. For us to challenge this interest in a court is a waste of time and money.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): I pick up on one point, Madam Speaker, from the minister who just sat down.
The reason we cannot take back the parks estate is twofold: by the time you have given it away, it will be somebody else’s property; it will be privately owned. To acquire somebody else’s property, under the terms of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act, you have to pay compensation on just terms. The fact is that the value of this parks estate is probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We, as a future government, cannot commit to the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars to buy back something that the Territory already owns because to do so would be absolutely and fundamentally irresponsible.
The second issue is that we own the parks estate. It is the possession of all Territorians. What is happening is this government is reneging on a very important promise. They promised, prior to the last election, that there would be no privatisation of any assets. This is privatisation of an asset because it is going to end up in private hands. The names of the title deeds will be individual people who own this property under their new form of parks freehold title.
The minister said the reason the CLP cannot say that they will take back the parks estate is because we cannot unless we commit ourselves to expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars. That is the value of what is being given away. It is churlish in the extreme for the minister to say we are going to do it because it is a wise decision. It is an unwise decision, and part of reason is that it is a decision that cannot be reversed. That is the reason it is an unwise decision.
We do not sit on this side of the House and say this is a wise decision but we are going to be churlish about it; we are trying to save the loss of a major asset from publicly-owned hands, oddly enough, into private hands, which would be, in any other circumstances considering political persuasions of both parties in this case, an absurd situation.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Madam Speaker, today I speak against the Parks and Wildlife Commission Amendment Bill.
When I arrived in Katherine in 1989, I became acquainted with the Parks and Wildlife Commission in the Northern Territory for the first time and was impressed with their professionalism and dedication. Nothing has changed since then. I also became aware that Katherine was placed in the centre of, and near, some of the most beautiful parks in not only the Northern Territory, but Australia.
In 1993, my husband and I purchased a tourist park in Katherine and, of course, became even more aware of the importance of the park system surrounding Katherine, and realised at that time just how much they are valued by the tourism industry. In 1993, I also became the chair of the Katherine Region Tourism Association and we on the executive spent a considerable time marketing the parks around Katherine and the Northern Territory. The Katherine region covers some 400 000 km and we always marketed it as being the last great outback adventure for tourists to visit and utilise our parks.
A high percentage of tourists come to the Northern Territory to experience the parks and to get away from it all. They want to get away from a lot of other tourists, if they can, and camp in way out places and experience the bush. They also want to experience the great flora and fauna that we are fortunate to have in our parks and our river systems. Why do you think we have had them there? Because we have had great management by the Parks and Wildlife Commission over the years with a great understanding of what happens within those park systems.
I have never had any doubt about management of the parks considering the quality and experience of members of the board, which consisted of people with vast experience of the land and the Northern Territory. I know Keith Lansdowne who is a very experienced cattleman and man of the land. Patty Buntine is a highly respected community representative in Katherine and has vast experience of the land and the parks system around the Northern Territory. I cannot fail to mention the most well known person of all, Harry Butler, who is very passionate about the environment.
I am always wary and sceptical about underlying motives when the advice and counsel of experienced people is not only ignored and, in this case, we are discussing the Parks and Wildlife management board, but I am also concerned when these are discarded and replaced by a CEO, a person who is going to take the advice of an advisory board.
The minister in his second reading speech, said:
That is a very sad state of affairs, that the Parks and Wildlife Commission is redundant, particularly when I consider over the years the expertise and experience, the knowledge these people have and the commitment they made to their work.
The Minister for Parks and Wildlife would do well to go back to the drawing board, but considering he has gone this far, he probably cannot back down now. It will be up to the CLP, when we return to government, to reinstate the Parks and Wildlife Commission to its rightful status, administering parks in the Northern Territory - that is, of course, if we have any left, Madam Speaker. I do not support this bill.
Dr BURNS (Parks and Wildlife): Madam Speaker, what a performance by the opposition. As I foreshadowed in my second reading speech, this amendment is all about correcting an administrative anomaly, but it has turned in to a giant conspiracy theory.
At the outset of my reply, I place on the record, first, that there is no conspiracy theory; and second, that I value the Parks and Wildlife Service and all the staff who serve therein. We have a very high calibre of staff doing an excellent job sometimes in very lonely and remote areas. There is a great body of expertise in there and a great love of the service and what the service is doing.
It offended me to hear the Leader of the Opposition allege that I said things in my second reading speech that I did not say at all. The Leader of the Opposition needs to have a reality check. This is desperation stakes. He is trying to make an impact but he is clutching at straws. To infer that I am disinterested in parks and wildlife and the parks estate within the Northern Territory is absolutely fatuous. To say that there is some sort of conspiracy theory, that I am not going to listen to advice from the advisory council is assuming a lot. I am a minister who listens to advice from all areas and I will certainly be listening to the advice of this advisory council.
Let us look at the composition of the advisory council. The council shall consist of an independent chairperson with acknowledged expertise in conservation and/or park management. Second, the chief executive officer of the relevant agency responsible for the administration of the Parks and Wildlife Commission; third, two Aboriginal persons with wide experience in indigenous land management, parks and tourism; fourth, one person with special knowledge of Territory botany or zoology; fifth, one person with special knowledge of Northern Territory natural resource management; sixth, one person with knowledge and expertise in conservation and park matters to represent community environmental interests; seventh, one person with knowledge and expertise in conservation and park matters with experience in the pastoral industry; eighth, one person with wide expertise and experience in the Northern Territory tourism industry to provide a tour operator’s perspective; and, finally, one Commonwealth employee representing Parks Australia.
That is a wide representative body with the opportunity for government to appoint eminent people in their fields. I accept what the opposition said about the past; people like Harry Butler, Mrs Buntine and all the other people you mentioned. Sure, they made a fantastic contribution over the years, but let us not live in the past. There are contemporaneous people with an interest in these issues and we should tap into them. Let us acknowledge the contribution of those in the past, but let us move on.
There is an old saying in politics: the dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on. The opposition is still barking; the caravan has moved on. It has moved on in a couple of ways. First, there has been a High Court decision, the Ward case, which my colleague and predecessor, the member for Casuarina, mentioned. That had implications for our parks estate. This government acted to negotiate rather than litigate. We have seen the results of litigation over decades under the CLP. The Kenbi land claim, $20m, and what result did it achieve? It made a few people rich, I suppose, but it set up a whole range of antipathy and bad feeling. It was not successful in any way.
I will mention the Borroloola land claim, although I will be careful because there is litigation on foot, but the CLP, many years ago, set up a situation that this government is still trying to redress in which they did a land deal with a land claim pending and, basically, we are still trying to pick up the pieces of that. They can go down the path of litigation if they wish, but I say it is a fruitless path that will bear only antipathy and bad feeling.
The CLP’s line is: you are giving away the parks estate. We are not giving away the parks estate; we are entering into arrangements and negotiations with traditional owners that will benefit all Territorians. The parks estate will be increased. There will be joint management and that is a step forward for the Northern Territory.
If the opposition wants to talk about morale among parks service staff, I have heard from a number of officers that they felt constrained under the CLP about how far they could go in their relationships with traditional owners and moving on. They felt that, in many cases, they were not able to speak freely and frankly with traditional owners. Let us not go with this CLP bunkum about morale in the service.
All this business about giving away parks - all we are doing is going down the same path as the CLP went with Nitmiluk. Is the CLP going to fess up now and say they gave away Nitmiluk? Did you give away Nitmiluk?
Mr Baldwin: No, the Lands Commissioner did.
Dr BURNS: No, you didn’t, and neither are we giving away our parks estate. Do not try to push a furphy in here; don’t try and push a false line.
Madam Speaker, I go to the Rapid Creek Markets every Sunday. I am someone who is available to people if they have problems or issues. There is only one person who has raised this issue of the parks framework with me. I think I saw him speaking to the member for Brennan out here at a seniors do. I will not mention the gentleman’s name. He has a particular bee in his bonnet about this, but he has been the only person who has come to me with concerns about this issue. So, the dog may bark, but the caravan has moved on. Territorians want a different era from confrontation and litigation under the CLP.
Mr Baldwin: Tell us about the cost while you are on your feet.
Dr BURNS: If you want to talk about giving away parks, let us talk about Djukbinj National Park on the Adelaide River. It is a better example of giving away parks. There was a pending land claim in 1991, and the CLP, if you want to say ‘gave away’, gave away that park without ever going to litigation. It was offered up prior to the claim reaching a hearing. So, what is the opposition going to do? Well, fair enough, they are saying, as part of CLP policy, if they were to be elected at the next election, they will set up an independent commission.
Will they go back to the litigation of the past? One would hope not. Territorians will see past the rhetoric and dog-whistling and what this government is doing is a positive way forward. It is going to increase the parks estate. It is going to involve Aboriginal people in a better way in the management of our parks, as did the Nitmiluk model, and it is going to be a great boon for tourism.
The opposition does not have a leg to stand on. They are trying to whip up conspiracy theories that do not exist, and trying to assert things about me and my management that do not exist either.
Dr Lim: Your management does not exist, that is true! Very true!
Dr BURNS: Thank you, member for Greatorex.
I appreciate what the member for Nelson said. He is talking about a more holistic approach to the whole issue of natural resource management, and that is something that I am open to and, as a government, we need to look forward to, not back to the past like the CLP. I am quite open to considering natural resource management frameworks. Of course, there is a parliamentary committee that is looking at the establishment of an EPA, something that this mob never did. They can talk about conservation values and everything that they did, but no EPA. We are the only jurisdiction in Australia that does not have one, and it was under this government that we are considering implementation of an EPA, but we will wait for the deliberations of the committee before we consider that.
In conclusion, I commend this bill to the House. The amendments are of an administrative nature. I completely refute the opposition’s assertions that somehow we are downgrading parks and the management of parks within the Northern Territory. I am and will remain vitally interested in our parks estate. I am carrying out a schedule of visitation of our parks and meeting the rangers. I am very keen. As a portfolio area, I am particularly interested in Parks and Wildlife, and I resent any assertion to the contrary by the opposition. The opposition has tried to draw red herrings in this debate, which has been futile. Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr BURKE (Brennan): Madam Speaker, I was going to make a few points, but I wanted to hear the minister’s comments first. If you talk about the dogs barking while the caravan moves on, minister, it is good to hear that the dog has a bit of bark in it this time because if you look at the transcripts of the Estimates proceedings, if you were the dog, it is like a dog with its larynx removed. Over the whole of that Estimates hearing, while we were asking questions about the parks handover, all we heard was, ‘Yip, yip, yip, I don’t know. This is a highly technical legal issue. It is not my responsibility; it is some other person’s portfolio’. It was absolutely disgraceful …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Brennan, cease. I gave you the call a bit too soon. We need the minister to actually seek leave to move that the bill be read a third time, and then to move it and then you can continue.
Mr BURKE: I was responding to your call, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Yes, I apologise.
Dr BURNS (Parks and Wildlife)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Mr BURKE (Brennan): Madam Speaker, shall I start again?
Madam SPEAKER: You are keen to speak, I know.
Mr BURKE: It was interesting in this debate that we get a patronising lecture from the former minister, the member for Casuarina, and the current minister giving us their expertise on native title issues and the parks handover. The expertise that the member for Casuarina exhibited in 2003 Estimates with regard to native title issues was this:
If ever there was an appalling example of a minister not understanding what native title involves, and the extent of native title as determined by the courts, it was that minister’s statement in those Estimates proceedings.
Unfortunately, one of the problems with native title and its inter-relationship with the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act is that it is and can be seen as quite complicated. However, one expects from a minister of the Crown who has carriage of the decision-making process, more understanding of native title than to make the throwaway comment: ‘It is their land; they own it; we cannot take it’ when the Native Title Act expressly provides that if Aboriginal interests are claimed and proved, those interests and the extent of them need to be determined and they sit alongside - equally or unequally, depending on the determination of the court - other interests; for example, pastoralists.
We questioned the current minister, the member for Johnston, on that issue at pages 36 to 37 of the daily transcript of proceedings of 24 June and further on. There is a clear indication that the minister either did not know the answer, which I believe is the correct interpretation, and filibustered for about three, four or five pages or more of the transcript, when we asked him whether he agreed with the comments of the previous minister.
Member for Johnston, as the minister with carriage of this legislation, you are asking us to have confidence in you and your understanding of the Native Title Act and the possible implications, intended or otherwise, for the Northern Territory government. You speak strongly saying that we have displayed only ignorance. All I say to you is if you honestly referred yourself to the Hansard of the Estimates proceedings, you would have to admit that your performance was absolutely appalling. To suggest that we should have confidence in your knowledge, leadership and ability of this issue is quite wrong and no one would interpret otherwise.
In fact, you went as far as to say that when it came to native title issues as they affected pastoral leases, it was ‘a highly technical issue and not within our portfolio area’. This was from the minister: ‘… not within our portfolio area’. The Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and the Environment, the landlord of pastoral leases in the Northern Territory, a person who has advice within his own department on these issues and they can advise him at any time on these issues, had the gall or the appalling ignorance to say in Estimates that these issues were not within his portfolio area.
Minister, you give us no confidence today that you understand the implications of native title; that you have any idea of what is occurring with the parks handover. Frankly, I have no confidence in the Chief Minister either on this issue. We have yet to hear from the Attorney-General, but it would appear that all of the expertise on this issue resides with his Department of Justice. By your own admission, lands minister, you were ignorant in Estimates on anything that is occurring on that issue.
You say that you are not giving away land. You have established at least eight portions of what is now Aboriginal Park Freehold land. That is land that has been taken away from the ownership of Territorians and vested under the ownership of Aboriginal claimants. That is the point that Territorians have yet to understand in this debate. They are not owners; they are claimants. The Native Title Act provides for ways in which these issues can be dealt. The point on which the CLP takes issue with the Labor government is that there was and remains no necessity to give away …
Ms Martin: What exactly were the Larrakia recognised for, Denis, when they got their land?
Mr BURKE: I can’t hear you, sorry. You are just mumbling. If you want to speak, speak louder, Chief Minister.
Ms Martin: I am just worried about your inconsistencies here.
Mr BURKE: There is no necessity for the Chief Minister and this government to give away parks that belong to Territorians under this guise of: ‘therefore we can set up joint management arrangements’. Joint management arrangements can be set up under existing provisions for the ownership of the land by all Territorians.
Mr Ah Kit: Aren’t Aboriginal people Territorians in your books?
Mr BURKE: All Territorians. The member for Arnhem says: ‘Aren’t Aboriginals all Territorians?’ Territorians need to know that they can deal freely with their land, freely, with about 5% of the land of the Northern Territory. They cannot deal freely with it except for about 95% of that land unless they consult with claimants under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act or the Native Title Act. That raises the question of: where is the justification for giving away more so that we have less than 5% of our land that we can deal with? Where is the justification for giving away Territory parks? Our parks …
Ms Lawrie: Not giving it away.
Mr BURKE: You are giving them away. The member for Karama says: ‘We are not giving away the parks’. You have given away a number of parks under a new title called Aboriginal Park Freehold. Look at your own Frameworks for the Future Bill.
There is no necessity to take that action. As the minister said, joint management arrangement have been put in place in the past, proudly by the CLP, and joint management arrangements, as spoken to by Mr Fuller, have a real place in the future management of our parks. There is no justification - and more and more Territorians are becoming aware of the fact that there is no justification - for giving away these parks under the guise that they were or would be under claim and this would cost the Territory millions of dollars.
What you should do is explain clearly to Territorians the acquisition processes you had and continue to have under the Native Title Act and have chosen not to use them. You also need to explain to Territorians that native title under these new arrangements has not been extinguished; native title has only been subdued. Your own experts said that. It has only been subdued. Where is the confidence that Territorians have in this government? It is the same confidence we had with the pool fencing legislation. I have heard ‘sorry’ from this Chief Minister more often in this three years than we have ever heard. She is sorry she stuffed up the pool fencing. It is a bit hard to say the word ‘sorry’ to Warren Anderson, but we are getting there. It is a dragging process to get it out of her.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker. There is an abuse of parliamentary proceeding by the member for Brennan. He had the opportunity to participate in the second reading debate, which is the opportunity to speak widely and cover all of the ground one needs to cover in and around the bill. There are specifics to which he needs to refer, one of which is the bill. He is contributing to a second reading debate at the point of the third reading, and he is misusing this House to make a reply closing debate, which he clearly does not have the right to do.
Madam SPEAKER: It is my understanding that people may speak at the third reading stage on the bill for 10 minutes. Member for Brennan, your time has nearly expired.
Mr BURKE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Given that I only have 45 seconds left, all I can say is that the point of order from the Deputy Chief Minister is a further indication of the sensitivity the government has on this issue.
You are quite happy to issue glossy brochures, you are quite happy to mislead Territorians that nothing has changed, you are quite happy to say that we will dance through the heather together in the future, but if the dogs are barking, they are going to bark louder and louder once Territorians understand clearly what exactly is happening to our national parks, what exactly this Labor government is doing in giving away our parks, and why they have not used the processes that are in place to preserve Territorians’ estate for the future.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, I want to drive the point home that the member for Brennan so aptly and eloquently made: the parks estate is being given away to other people. It is currently in the possession of the Crown. The Crown makes the government the landlord. The landlord has chosen to transfer title into the names of other people. If I transfer the title of my home out of my name and into the name of another person, no matter what arrangement I have made prior to that transfer, no matter what caveat I put in place, at the end of the day, I have given my property away. To say: ‘We are not giving the parks estate away’ is wrong.
The second issue that came up during the Estimates process was that native title was going to be suppressed. This is the opinion of the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, and this is the opinion of the government of the Northern Territory. Had the CLP at any point in the past attempted to suppress native title, we would have been accused, as usual, of being a pack of racists. The fact is that to make this deal work, it is necessary to suppress native title.
This government often and regularly talks about legacies; the legacy of this, the legacy of that, what has been done in the past that cause problems today. If you do not extinguish native title in the process of transferring, and you merely suppress it, you are creating a problem. That problem will come up at the time that these lease arrangements run out. The whole issue of Wik touched on the issue of suppression of native title and the suppression of native title will leave a legacy later on …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: The problem is that when this legacy comes up, the courts at the time are not going to know who is going to have title to what. They are going to have to litigate. Do you know the sad thing? When that native title comes up in future, it will be Aborigines against Aborigines trying to determine who owns what and who has what property rights over what piece of land in the parks. That is the legacy of this government through the process that they are establishing at the moment. It is ad hoc, it is nobbled together and it is ill-considered in its current structure and its legal consequences for the future.
Madam Speaker, this is folly of the highest order, and it is for that reason that members on this side of the House oppose what the government is doing.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I table the Remuneration Tribunal Report and Recommendation No 2 of 2004, Statutory Bodies.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move that the report be printed.
Motion agreed to.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I rise to present to the House the report prepared by the Northern Territory Remuneration Tribunal.
In October 2003, the Administrator, acting on the advice of the Executive Council, requested the Remuneration Tribunal to inquire into and report on the remuneration paid to members of Northern Territory government statutory bodies and to make recommendations in relation to the manner in which future reviews may be undertaken. The tribunal was also asked to consider reforms to the classification and structure for statutory bodies.
The tribunal has now presented its report to government. The report represents the most comprehensive review undertaken by the tribunal to date in relation to statutory bodies and makes a range of recommendations on such matters as remuneration levels, a new classification structure consisting of three principal categories divided into various tiers and levels of responsibility, formal establishment of annual fees for certain bodies and persons where warranted, amendment of the Remuneration Tribunal Act to enable the Administrator to determine a classification structure for statutory bodies and the remuneration levels to apply, and for ministers to determine the allocation of bodies within the classification structure, insurance issues and a range of administrative matters.
The government is looking forward to considering the tribunal’s recommendations with a view to establishing higher standards in the administration of statutory bodies consistent with good governance principles and best practice around Australia.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the paper, and that I have leave to continue my remarks at a later hour.
Motion agreed to.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Family and Community Services): Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about a matter of the utmost importance. There can be nothing more important than the welfare and wellbeing of the Territory’s children.
The Northern Territory has the youngest population in Australia. Territorians under 18 make up 30% of the population, a greater percentage than anywhere else in the country. Of the 57 000 plus kids in the Territory, more than 21 000 or 37% are Aboriginal. This creates both challenges and opportunities.
Children are the life blood of any society. Protecting children and supporting families is what I want to talk about today. In particular, I want to outline the policy of our government in relation to the protection of our children from abuse and neglect. This policy will take its place alongside the long overdue reform and development programs that we have put in place in respect of health, employment, education and local government administration.
The Martin Labor government has been focussed on building a better Territory since it came to office, and the increased social cohesion that flows from the fixing of child and family welfare problems is one of the building blocks. Whether children are well placed as the future unfolds depends in large measure on the quality of their social environment and on whether they have grown up in a safe, nurturing and positive family environment.
Growing up the next generation of Territorians should be important to all of us. Government can, to at least some extent, provide the social infrastructure and civic leadership on which opportunity can be based, but growing up kids is a responsibility that rests in the first instance with parents, families and communities.
I have first-hand experience of the intertwined privileges and obligations of being a mother and a grandmother, and I come from a large and extended family. That experience enables me to say with some authority that raising kids and young people is not always easy. It is a task that brings with it all sorts of complications, but also wonderful memories and joy. Watching kids grow up successfully is the most satisfying and rewarding experience that parents can have.
In my work with various communities over the years, I have obtained increasingly profound insight into the challenges for Territory parents and families as they raise their children. I have particularly come to understand the significant challenges faced by many Aboriginal parents and carers. Their challenges include the erosion of cultural and moral values, geographical remoteness, failed past government policies, the struggle for economic independence and a lack of basic services.
There are times when growing up is not joyful, successful or easy. There are times when children and young people are harmed, neglected or isolated. Sometimes this is the fault of those who are supposed to nurture and protect them; sometimes it is their own doing; and sometimes it is a consequence of the social and economic conditions in which they live.
Today, I want to talk about what we see as the way forward when it comes to protecting children and stopping child abuse and neglect. This government’s Caring for Our Children reform agenda has two important parts: new legislation aimed at better protecting children; and reform of existing policy and administrative processes with a view to the same outcome. Information, values and emotional sustenance absorbed from a child’s family constitute the most important elements in its identity. Family is the hub around which the wheel of most children’s lives extend.
The tragedy is that most child abuse happens in families, and most perpetrators are known to the child and family. Child abuse is cloaked in shame and fear and creates mistrust. Victims and their families will be scared of speaking out. A parent or sibling who knows or suspects may stay silent in the belief that speaking out will do no good, that he or she will not be believed or, worse, that some retribution will be visited upon them.
Abuse may be an open secret, known more broadly to parts of our community, but still a secret hidden from the reach of intervention. Dealing with fears and open secrets requires us to build greater trust, a trust that will make children and those who know of abuse believe that if they seek help they will not be left isolated, unsupported or alone. That need to know about abuse will be recognised for what it is: a crime against our kids.
Child abuse and neglect is a problem that is not unique to the Territory. It is a problem found in all nations and most societies. It is associated with the presence of family violence, substance abuse, mental illness, poverty, unemployment and lack of social support. These phenomena are signs of poor family and community cohesion, and inadequate coping skills and capacity.
After many years of research and investigation into child abuse and neglect, we know quite a lot about it. We know what causes it and we know the appalling legacy that it leaves. These include drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, homelessness, juvenile crime, adult criminal behaviour and incarceration. Some estimates indicate that as many as 97% of prisoners have experienced abuse or neglect. An American study in 2000 reported that the US spends $94bn annually on the direct and indirect costs of child abuse and neglect.
I know that child abuse and neglect occurs, and I know that it occurs on a scale that statistics and studies will never truly reveal. We must always be looking at it, and into child protection; researching it, studying it and understanding it, trying to find ways to address it. However, I am not just going to look at the problem. I am going to tackle the problem. I do not need more information before taking action. The easiest thing for me and the government to do would be to announce another review. I will not. I will not let our comprehensive reform process languish while we wait. I believe that child protection problems that our society currently faces have resulted from government inaction, not a lack of information.
I do not wish to labour this point, as it is not the focus of my statement today. However, it is important that the community understands that our child protection reform is based on comprehensive research, reviews and analyses already undertaken. My department currently has in front of it over 20 different reports about understanding and addressing child abuse in Australia. Several of these are specific to the Northern Territory. Several are specific to indigenous issues, and others look at the problem from an Australian perspective. The reports have been produced or commissioned by a wide range of institutions, including government, universities and other independent research centres. These reports and their associated inquiries have methodically analysed past and continuing instances of child abuse and neglect, and our own specialists and advisors will continue to monitor both the Territory’s situation and the research and literature emanating from other jurisdictions.
I refer members to the Caring for Our Children web site, which itemises material that the Department of Health and Community Services either commissioned or uses to inform the reform agenda. However, I reiterate this government’s position that while information is important, it is action, not information, which is needed now.
Let me tell you what the Australian and Northern Territory data tells us. In Australia in 2002-03, there were 198 355 reports or notifications of suspected child abuse and neglect; 1554 of those related to the Territory. The nature of our response to such notifications has been similar to the response in most of the other states and the ACT. Every single one of the suspected child abuse or neglect notifications is immediately assessed, and about 40% to 50% of all notifications result in a full investigation. About 25% of notifications are substantiated or confirmed as child abuse. We also know that approximately 43% of substantiated cases are classified as physical abuse, 10% as sexual abuse, 11% as emotional abuse, much of which is because of the children’s exposure to parental domestic violence, and 36% of cases relate to neglect. This compares to the national figures where physical abuse comprised 28%, sexual abuse 10%, emotional abuse 34%, and neglect 28%.
From 1997-98 to 2002-03 in Territory, there was a 223% increase in notifications of abuse and neglect. In the same period, there was a 171% increase in the number of children in care. The SNAICC Report published in 2003 on Territory children found that there was still significant under-reporting of child abuse and neglect. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are more likely to have substantiated abuse notifications made about them than any other children. In the Northern Territory, it is 5 times more likely that there will be a substantiated outcome in respect of a notification received concerning an indigenous child.
In the Territory, the majority of substantiated cases of abuse, 40%, relate to female single parent families, followed closely, 39%, by cases relating to two parent intact families. This is also consistent with the figures for the rest of Australia.
The Productivity Commission Report of 2003 indicated the Northern Territory had one of the highest levels of direct spending on child abuse at $177 per child, compared with the national average of $150. However, this government believes that still not enough is being done, and I will get to the funding later.
The statistics I have referred to serve to remind us of something we often forget when we read about the more horrifying sexual and physical abuse cases in the media; that is, that child abuse is not just about sexual and physical abuse, terrible as those things are. There are four main forms of child abuse that our children may experience, and each leaves its own scars and must be recognised and dealt with. The often overlooked additional two categories of child abuse are those of emotional abuse and child neglect.
The impact of emotional abuse may leave no physical injuries or scars, but the hurt it produces can be more damaging than instances of physical or sexual abuse. Truly, we cannot afford to ignore child neglect. Failure to provide children with enough food, proper shelter or clothing and proper supervision can, in extremes, lead to malnutrition, developmental delays and affect children’s ability to get an education, and is more strongly associated with later involvement in criminal activity than any other forms of child abuse. We must ensure that we do not restrict our efforts to physical cruelty and sexual misbehaviour, and fail to address other forms of harm children may suffer.
Similarly, we must bear in mind that one size does not fit all. We need to have differentiated responses for different problems. However, in general terms, our primary focus will be on preventing all kinds of harm, and supporting families and communities where such harm is occurring, or is in danger of occurring.
The government will not just sit back and wait for improvements to occur through better prevention and early intervention strategies and processes. There are children in harm’s way in our communities now, and government must act. So, what are we doing? In most areas of government policy, money alone will not solve problems, and this applies to child protection as much as any other area. However, it is also true to say that not a lot can be achieved without money.
In opposition and coming into government, we believed that child protection was chronically underfunded. There were many areas of government that we believed needed to be addressed from a funding perspective and child protection was right up there as a priority. We have addressed it in funding terms; you only have to look at the budget papers.
When the Martin government was elected in 2001, the 2001-02 Child Protection Services budget was $7.8m. This year, 2004-05, the Child Protection Services budget is over $20m. In three years, the budget papers demonstrate that funding has almost tripled. These figures constitute a dramatic increase in funding. The government could easily sit back and rely on the figures as proof that we have adequately addressed child protection funding, however we believe that more funding still is required.
That is why last year we made the decision to allocate an additional $53m for rebuilding child protection. As I mentioned earlier, money alone is not the solution because child abuse is a complex problem. It requires a full and comprehensive response. There are no simple answers and I would reject any suggestion that there are easy answers to the problem of child abuse and neglect. We are taking a comprehensive approach to the reform of our child protection system. I have given you figures on suspected child abuse and neglect and spelt out the way in which notifications are responded to, but a good child protection system is exactly that: a system operating at different levels and involving various players. We need reforms at all levels of our system.
Earlier, when comparing the Northern Territory with rest of Australia, I mentioned that in 2002-03, we had 1554 notifications of child abuse. Last year, in 2003-04, the number of notifications was 1949. This is an increase of 395, or 25%, in one year. This statement might sound strange, but I want this number to increase. The reason I say that is because I believe, and research supports me, that child abuse is grossly under-reported. I understand that if this number does increase, people will use it against me to suggest that child abuse is on the increase. However, I am willing to wear that criticism because I believe, in fact I know, that perhaps the biggest obstacle to effectively tackling child abuse is the fact that much of the abuse never reaches our official statistics. It is abuse that simply is not reported.
One of my key objectives as minister is to increase child abuse awareness and reporting, and I am glad to say that this is already occurring. As I mentioned, there was a 25% increase in notifications last year. Almost all of the increase was due to the increase in indigenous notifications, which are up by 371 from 855 to 1026, a 43% increase.
Since the change of government, the number of notifications for abuse of Aboriginal children has nearly doubled; it has increased by 96%. The question to ask is: has child abuse in Aboriginal communities doubled during this time, or has reporting of child abuse doubled during the time? It is the latter. I take great heart in these figures. Finally, child abuse in Aboriginal communities is being addressed. The stigma of not taking a stand against the abuse is being tackled at the grassroots level within our communities. Although I am optimistic, I know that we still have some way to go before we can say that we have found lasting solutions to this social sickness in our remote communities, but a least what we can say is that it is no longer a case of out of sight, out of mind.
The move that the government has made to start addressing child abuse in indigenous communities has not been easy. I acknowledge that it has placed enormous additional pressures on staff. Increased workloads have been created both as the result of the increase in notifications and because notifications are increasingly coming from remote areas. There can be absolutely no argument that the more staff on the job in the main population centres and in regional remote communities, the better. That is a key focus of our strategy. Obviously, the best way to address workloads is to increase staffing levels and we are doing that.
Attracting qualified staff into the child protection area is a major issue across Australia. It is a very difficult job carried out in very difficult circumstances. I am delighted that since January this year, my department has been able to attract 32 new operational staff to join Family and Community Services. There have been two cadetships and two traineeships for Aboriginal people created and filled since January 2004. We have five additional staff to provide an after hours service. We know that abuse and neglect do not happen between nine and five. We have appointed six additional child protection staff, as well as two cadetships and two traineeships. We have developed a recruitment strategy to try to fill vacant child protection worker positions, and this recruitment is ongoing.
The new recruits will join and assist the hard working team of child protection workers. We recognise the importance of looking after these staff and Community Services has formed a dedicated Service System Improvement Unit within FACS to implement strategies that will help services deal with increasingly complex cases and problems.
We are enhancing training and professional development for staff including our NGO partners. I recognise the critical work of our child protection workers, however, I also recognise that work pressures can sometimes make them less responsive than we and they would like. We are developing a workload management system and enhanced training for our staff to address the criticisms of our statutory child protection system. The department is also looking at its case management system, and I have asked them to conduct an audit on case loads to see how the workload can be better managed. We are developing a new complaints system in recognition of the need to use complaints to help us build a better system. As I stated, I acknowledge that the increasing pressures have caused an increasing strain on our child protection employees
I struggle to think of a more difficult job. The requirement to analyse and intervene in what are always emotional and stressful situations on a daily basis requires great patience, skill and understanding. I am sure that I have the united support of this parliament when I say that their work is immensely valued and appreciated by us all.
We are diligently working with the staff to address any and all concerns that they may have. I acknowledge that across the Territory, staff need new and improved accommodation and we are delivering on that, including in Central Australia. We are delivering that as quickly as we possibly can. Workloads and case management are another important issue and we are working to come up with systems and processes that suit all involved.
The government has already announced the formation of a reference group to oversee the reform of our child protection system. This group is charged not with the task of reinventing the wheel, but with pushing it forward. The group combines the expertise and wisdom of local and interstate experts. It will work with the newly formed Family and Community Services Advisory Council chaired by Charlie King.
I have known Charlie for a long time and his commitment to children and young people is well known. I am delighted that he has accepted my offer to chair this advisory council. I know that Charlie will tell me how it really is. The new advisory council will be holding its inaugural meeting tomorrow, and both I and the shadow minister, the member for Port Darwin, will be attending.
The advisory council is made up of people with a wide range of experience from across the whole of the Northern Territory and I look forward to meeting with them tomorrow. As regards the participation of the member for Port Darwin, I take this opportunity to note with satisfaction that there would appear to be a bipartisan commitment in this House to address child protection issues. It is important that we demonstrate the bipartisan commitment to the advisory council and to the wider community, so I am glad that the member for Port Darwin has accepted my invitation to attend.
In addition to my department’s reference group and the advisory council, there is an inter-departmental committee whose job it is to ensure that all departments are informed of and included in the reform process.
I am pleased to announce that I have been appointed to chair the national Community and Disability Services Ministers’ Council. This is the council that pulls together all the state, territory and federal ministers. I intend to use my position as chair of this council to draw attention to the particular difficulties we face in the Northern Territory, especially as regards the discharge of our child protection obligations in relation to children in geographically remote indigenous communities with significant economic and social dysfunction problems.
My CEO, Robert Griew, also chairs an important national working group, which is developing a joint government and community services policy and planning process in relation to indigenous child and family wellbeing and resilience. The important work undertaken by SNAICC in identifying the seven priorities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families will be used by the national working group under Mr Griew’s leadership.
Next month, Brisbane hosts the 15th International Congress on the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. This is the largest congress in the world in this field, and is recognised as the premier international child abuse and neglect conference. I am delighted that, as part of this congress, I have been invited to chair an international panel of experts from Australia, New Zealand, America and Canada on making the world safer for children.
This government believes that an effective policy to address child protection needs in the Territory has to have three major and inter-related components. First, we can help prevent and reduce child abuse and neglect by building economically and socially sustainable communities that are more confident and capable when it comes to child rearing, and ensuring parents get the help they need. An example of this government’s programs for families include the Moulden Park Comprehensive Service based at the local school. Funding is provided by my department to support the local community in its attempts to address child and family concerns. At this site, programs are provided for parenting assistance, family and schools together program, early childhood support and referrals to family agencies. We will be expanding these types of services, which involve the community and recognise the important role of schools in the protection of children and support for families.
Funding for the Breathing Space Program is provided to Darwin Family Day Care to broker child care for families in Darwin, Alice Springs, and Katherine and, this financial year, Tennant Creek. Families using this service are referred by agencies such as drug and alcohol services, medical and mental health services and parenting programs. This program builds on existing mainstream services and offers help to parents who are experiencing difficulties and need a break. Many Territory families do not have extended family support and this program fills that gap.
We will continue to build on existing services such as child care to reach those families who are struggling before their children are trapped in a cycle of abuse and neglect. The Remote Children’s Services Development in Central Australia is in three communities: Mt Liebig, Yuendumu and Mutitjulu. My department has worked with the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services and DEET to consult with and involve community members in designing early childhood programs that meet local expectations and needs. This is resulting in new service models, an innovation in the way that the Northern Territory and Commonwealth government agencies, training providers and support agencies work together to assist communities in this important area.
New child care facilities and services are now under active development in a further four communities: Titjakala, Ikuntji, Kintore and Laramba. Parentline is available for any family, any day, about anything. It offers a counselling service for all parents, with a capacity to refer parents in need of particular assistance or where there are concerns about children’s safety. The Positive Parenting Program, or PPP, is offered to interested parents where appropriate. Darwin Family Day Care offers a Parenting Puzzle Program to Darwin families with a successful baby group for young mothers. A position is funded in Alice Springs to offer counselling and parenting skill training for any parent. This community-based position is working closely with government and non-government agencies, including Centrelink, to provide information, counselling and structured programs for both individual families and groups.
The department now has a families web site available, with over 70 tip sheets available on many topics of interest and help for parents. These are being well used by parents and providers of services to families.
A range of new childhood family support initiatives have been funded. $910 000 is being provided in eight locations across the Northern Territory. The initiative is broadly aimed to progress an integrated response to children, their families, and communities; strengthen cohesion amongst those working with children and families, and provide a physical and program profile in the community for child and family support services. They include development of a child and family services precinct in Katherine; a family service base and programs at Maningrida CEC, Karama School and Wadeye; extensions of planned child care services development in Kintore; strengthening an early childhood program for Alice Springs town camp residents; and assistance for the Little Kids program, Rela Kuku Mapa run by the Western Aranda Relekha Aboriginal Corporation at Ntaria.
This government has developed an Office of Children and Family, which is actively involved in developing new programs and services, with a particular focus on improving parenting support and children’s services. We have increased child care subsidies by almost $1m to help families access good quality child care.
We have expanded the breakfast program in schools by an allocation of $300 000 to allow an additional six communities ensure that children have that important first meal of the day. This program complements a similar program run in the Northern Territory by the Fred Hollows Foundation.
We have established a youth outreach service to work with youth on the streets at night in Darwin, and we have funded youth activity programs in Borroloola and Nightcliff to offer support to our more vulnerable youth. We have funded a worker at Reconnect to work with young people who are petrol sniffing. We have increased funding to a range of agencies including the Foster Carers Association and CREATE, the organisation for young people in care, to enhance our services to young people in the care system. We have increased payments to families with children in foster care. This government has taken the lead role in the Child and Youth Safety Committee in Alice Springs, which works to provide solutions to young people who are a risk to themselves and others.
The Northern Territory has one of the highest rates of young parents. We have funded Ampe Aweke Alice Springs to provide residential and outreach support to young pregnant Aboriginal girls and their babies. The child and maternal health home visiting program in Central Australia will not just focus on medical needs, but will recognise the vulnerability of many families and enhance our ability to identify families at risk and ensure they receive the help they need.
My department has commenced work with several remote communities - Daly River, Oenpelli, Borroloola, Maningrida, Galiwinku, and Numbulwar- to identify strategies to help them better protect and care for children. An experienced officer from my department has been seconded to work in Wadeye to assist them to build capacity in that community. This is on top of the important work the Commonwealth and this government is doing with that community to respond to a range of problems. This approach emphasises the importance of strengthening families and communities as a way of keeping children safe, and minimising the need for more intrusive statutory child protection services.
These programs provide a universal service, in a non-stigmatising way, which allows service providers to identify families who are struggling and who need an additional helping hand. These families may never be represented in the figures of abused children, but these responses are a critical part of our child protection system.
The second component of our reform is the strengthening of service provision so that it effectively responds to our more vulnerable children. However, we need to do this in a way that strengthens communities and makes them safe places for children.
It is important for us to accept from the beginning that raising children and young people requires the right balance between the roles of parents, communities and government. Government provides many of the institutions like education, family support, law and justice, and health and community services necessary to support families and children. The desired outcome is for children to grow into young people who can participate successfully in the Territory’s economic, social and civic life. Functional communities can provide the social and cultural capital necessary to enable kids to fit in and to realise their potential.
Just as medical treatments that deal with a single localised problem whilst ignoring the whole person may often deliver only limited and short-term relief, we are not going to achieve success with our Family and Community Services policies if we focus only on abused or neglected children without also addressing the other members of their families. We need an integrated response to families that are in strife. This requires interaction and team work between staff from my department and relevant workers from other government and non-government agencies.
My department is working closely with other government departments and the non-government sector to make sure that we all notice when children are at risk. We are reviewing our family support programs to ensure that we are targeting our more vulnerable families. In recognition of the particular needs of some young people, we are reviewing our services for high-needs children and young people.
Children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to child abuse, and they need special protection. My department has started to implement a serious of measures that will improve the way that children with disabilities are protected and families are supported to care for their children. Child Protection and Disability Services staff will soon be working together under a joint protocol aimed at providing a streamlined service system when children with disabilities are harmed or cannot live at home. The joint protocol promotes information sharing and integrated service delivery. The joint protocol encourages staff to detect family stress where there is a child with a disability at the earliest possible time and to alleviate those stresses so that families can manage their parenting responsibilities.
The Disabilities Services program is revising and developing policies that will support and safeguard children with disabilities who cannot live at home. Carers engaged to provide an alternative family environment for these children will be assessed and supervised to ensure that the children’s best interests are paramount. Parents will also be encouraged to maintain their parenting responsibilities, and they will be supported to do so.
We are developing new, first response guidelines for frontline workers in the police and FACS in responding to domestic violence, child protection and sexual assault. A number of other protocols will ensure a better response between agencies. Alice Springs has implemented these already.
We have provided funding to develop a video on sexual assault that reflects community views. A child sexual assault and STI working party is developing better reporting, investigation and referral protocols with a particular focus on remote areas.
There are some families that have chronic problems, and children in these families are particularly vulnerable. Many of these families are repeat clients of the welfare system; 30% of reported cases of child abuse and neglect have had prior notifications. Often, multiple service providers like health services, housing organisations, legal services and family support and welfare services are involved with these families, but agencies are frequently unaware of the contribution of other providers and the duplication, gaps, frustration and inefficiency that so regularly emerges.
We have reviewed contemporary practice models across Australia as well as completing a detailed analysis of our Northern Territory data. Our school, police, correctional services, family support and health staff, to name just a few, are embracing their responsibility to protect and care for children in difficulty. Our statutory child protection service has the responsibility to respond when we suspect that children are being abused. It is an essential part of our child protection system, but it is a back up; it is not an excuse for other service providers to ignore the critical needs of our most vulnerable Territorians.
This government has developed a range of legislative amendments that better protect children. We have strengthened and updated the provisions in the Criminal Code Act relating to possession of child pornography, procurement of children, and indecent dealing with children under 16 years; introduced measures to make swimming pools safer for children and reduce the tragedy of child drownings, which were the highest rates in Australia; and amended the Community Welfare Act to enable transfer of child protection orders and proceedings. We are currently amending or revising the following: replacing the existing Community Welfare Act with new, contemporary legislation for children and families, adding provisions to respond to the particular needs and interests of children as witnesses, and reviewing the Juvenile Justice Act. We need to strengthen the responses to children who have been identified as being abused or neglected, or who are at serious risk.
Underpinning the new system is the new Community Welfare Act. This act has not been properly reviewed in over 20 years. We are conducting an overhaul, and it is a big task. We have been consulting with communities about the changes that are required, and I will have a draft bill in November. I am honouring my commitment to consult to ensure the bill meets the expectations of the community. This bill will make clear this government’s commitment to early intervention and prevention. It will outline principles and objectives that will underpin the interpretation of the act. It will define more clearly children who are in need of protection. It will provide for a greater range of orders when children are before the courts. It will provide for effective review mechanisms, and it will allow for greater information sharing. It will require the department to involve parents and extended families in decision making.
This is not about going soft on abuse or neglect. It will allow officers of my department to take decisive action when required. It will spell out the powers and responsibilities of officers in my department, and it will allow us to better protect children. We will still need to go to the courts and seek the removal of some children when families will not take action to keep their children safe.
We are focussed on building a system that endeavours to keep the child in the family wherever possible, and knits together relevant services to respond to a range of family dysfunction problems. We know that one size does not fit all, and we are creating a network of services that will address the particular circumstances of Territory families where children are at serious risk.
We are also introducing the Child Protection (Offenders Reporting and Registration) Bill, ensuring offenders are restricted from child-related employment. Families can have increased confidence that there will be measures in place to screen and detect sex offenders and prevent them from working with their children.
It is important for government not to think that it has all the answers. Strong family and community leadership is an equally critical part of a child’s development and protection processes. It is our responsibility as parents and leaders to set standards and to reinforce the value of our society so that children and families can be confident enough to identify child abuse for the crime it is, and to seek help when it happens.
I have publicly called for Aboriginal community leaders to confront the damage done to children and young people as a result of alcohol and other substance abuse. The link between such behaviour and general violence is well established. What is also now becoming increasingly evident is the clear link between alcohol and other substance abuse and child sexual abuse. Communities need to take all measures necessary to remove this scourge from our communities’ lives, including moderating, restricting or even, in some cases, withdrawing access to alcohol. Children and young people need strong family and community leadership, and they need it now. For my part, as an Aboriginal woman in a leadership role, I will continue to urge colleagues in the Aboriginal leadership to stand up and to tackle child abuse head on.
I have talked about how substance abuse often leads to child abuse. Gambling leads to child neglect. Gambling is a curse that affects children more than anyone else, whether it be on the pokies at the casino or a game of cards in the community; the end losers are often children. Gambling is an affliction that harms many vulnerable people, and it must be addressed.
I am the first Aboriginal woman to become a government minister in Australia. This only becomes an honour if I am able to use my position to achieve things. I accept that the incidence of child abuse, in particular in Aboriginal communities, is too high. I am moving now to do all I can to try to address that problem. I am committed to not only using the funding and legislative tools I have as a minister to change things, but also my influence.
We have had enough: no more family violence. Dealing with violence and abuse is not just women’s business; it is the community’s problem. Our communities and organisations must work together to create communities free of violence and abuse. However, it is also important to recognise that abuse occurs all too frequently in non-Aboriginal communities. Just as I have called on the Aboriginal leadership to take on the task of building a climate of trust, I call on non-Aboriginal leaders to join with me. The more we tell our family, neighbours and community that abuse is not acceptable, the more likely we are to succeed in eliminating it.
I have no doubt that the task ahead will be difficult. The Northern Territory is a wonderful and unique place, but it is a society with many complex and serious problems. I have talked about some of these problems; high levels of dangerous drinking, other forms of substance abuse, high levels of poverty, high levels of gambling, marginalised families and communities, and youth suicide, to name a few. All of these have direct links to risk, to child safety and wellbeing. We want the system to take a proactive role in relation to families and communities, where the accumulation of disadvantage and risk tells us that they are likely to be losing their ability to cope, or where children and young people may be confronted with greater risk.
We must work together to build staff skills in recognising and responding to the early signs of family distress. We will progressively establish service programs aimed at identifying problems and commencing remedial work early and locally. This focus on local issues will force government and non-government agencies to work together, and will help create communities and services that are more friendly and responsive to the needs of children and young Territorians.
We will develop an intensive family service to respond to high-risk, high-need families and, at the same time, we will ensure that existing services are better coordinated with each other and with the new intensive service. The aim is to avoid the sort of duplication that was revealed through one program in Western Australia. A family was receiving services from more than 40 welfare agencies, which involved more than 200 meetings a year. The adoption of an intensive, coordinated approach improves outcomes considerably.
We are increasing placement services in Alice Springs with a particular focus on young people who are petrol sniffing, and whose families are unable to cope.
It is undeniable that past neglect has strained the confidence of the community and staff in our child protection system. However, in the more recent past, significant improvements and reforms have been and continue to be achieved by this government. So what is the Martin government’s vision for protecting children and strengthening families? It is a system that recognises that government cannot do it alone. Child protection is everyone’s responsibility. We must all step up to the plate and recognise that government, families and communities are a team, and each one of us has our part to play. It is a system that provides responsive, integrated services that strengthen families, and one which pays attention to families which are struggling.
These services are based in strong community structures such as schools, child care centres and family centres that have strong community input. They are staffed by workers who know their stuff, and blend professional knowledge with community views and values. Services for vulnerable families are accessible and offer specialist assistance. Families are engaged in the process in ways that allow them to take responsibility for making changes, while also ensuring children are protected. Our statutory child protection system will engage with families and children and involve them in planning for the changes that must occur in their lives.
We will not be frightened by the excesses of the past policy of child removal and fail to take action. We will take bold action when required to protect children, but it will be action that is respectful of parents and their hardships. We will make sure that calls are returned, that parents and other service providers are given information about what is happening, and we will ensure that all who have a part to play will be included in the decision-making processes.
Alternatives to court processes will build on practices that have recently proved successful in New Zealand. We will document case plans and share them with other service providers and families who have been involved in developing them.
You may think that these are small things. However, they are at the heart of this new system. It is the small things that make a difference, such as the recognition that all service providers have an important part to play, and that it is our job to knit services together. It is not the task of families to make sense of unrelated parts of the service system. This system will recognise and respond to the cultural and geographic diversity of the Territory’s population. The system will respect the diversity of cultural and religious beliefs, but that respect does not extend to turning a blind eye to the unacceptable practices wrapped inappropriately in a cloak of religious or cultural belief.
We are committed to building a compassionate society, one in which all citizens are valued and where the social safety net is not ripped away under some guise of promoting self-help. We are committed to building social cohesion and family self-reliance. Our agenda is focussed on balancing the responsibility of individuals, family and government. The Martin Labor government will measure its responses. We will balance universal and targeted services carefully so that we can ensure the best results from available resources. In doing so, we will not resile from the values of Labor: social cohesion, fairness, compassion and community.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Ms CARTER (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that children are important to all of us, and to society as a whole. Their innocence is something that should bring joy to our lives, and they should be allowed to live an innocent life for as long as possible. Children have a right to safety, affection, good care and their innocence. Society, over time, has evolved processes and stages to move a young child through life in such a way that awareness and understanding of issues generally are done gradually and with care.
For example, let us talk about sex education. Before school age, parents have to cope with questions like: ‘Mummy, where did I come from?’ Most parents are able to cope with a question like that quite well. At primary school age, young people experience basic biology and learn what is right and wrong. During secondary school age, the curriculum offers issues such as relationship building, more detailed biology, and some of the less salubrious aspects of sexual activity such as sexually transmitted infections.
Once a young person reaches adulthood, they are prepared to join in and understand public debate over issues such as sexuality and sex behaviour; they go to the movies and they may see R-rated movies and read books on the matter. Society, as a whole, has developed a process that takes a young innocent child and gradually exposes them to complex and difficult issues in our community such as sex education, preparing them for their role as an adult. That is just one issue.
With regards to, for example, sexual behaviour, society has an agreement that sexual activity below the age of 16 is not something that we sanction. That law has been passed in the Northern Territory and deals with one difficult topic that a young person comes up against.
Equally, society’s attitude to violence towards children generally will not be tolerated, and we see society change its attitude to violence as the years go by. When I was a young child, it was not uncommon for children to get what was called ‘a belting’ from their dad - not that I ever got one, but kids in my class certainly did. We thought nothing of it. It was not uncommon for kids to get a smack in the supermarket, and I received some of those in my time. Nowadays, of course, our attitude has changed and most of us, I suspect, would be horrified at the thought of young children copping what was known as ‘a belting’ from mum or dad.
We have changed our attitudes based on learning how that behaviour experienced by a young person can affect their future life, acknowledging the fact that a child is in no position to be able to defend itself from physical violence, which is, quite frankly, unfair for that child. That is probably the reason why, as a society, we have moved on so that we do not tolerate overt violence towards children, or anyone for that matter.
Society has also moved to prevent malnutrition in children. An example, at the moment, is the government’s breakfast program running at schools. Society changes its mind, changes its attitude, and takes onboard the fact that children need a fair go in life. That is what we are about today because all of this is done in the hope that a child who is not abused will grow into a good adult.
Our hope is that if a child is not abused, they will demonstrate as an adult good health and, in particular, good mental health because it has been confirmed that people who are abused as children suffer as adults, for example, with mental health problems. The hope is that a child who is not abused as a child, and who witnesses good parenting skills from their parents, will transfer those good parenting skills to their own behaviour when they become a parent. They have seen the role models of their parents demonstrating good parenting skills and they do the same thing when they become parents.
The opposite occurs for a child who is abused. Statistically, many people who are in our prisons today, it is believed, have suffered child abuse. This is something that we are trying to overcome by developing a society that does not tolerate child abuse, that holds its hand out to families that find themselves in a situation where children could be abused, and in an effort to prevent child abuse occurring in the hope that the aberrations of poor adult behaviour do not occur in the future. Of course, it is right and proper to do everything we can to prevent children suffering from abuse.
Abuse takes many forms. The ‘hot’ forms are sexual abuse and violence, but there are far more subtle abuses: emotional abuse; neglect for lack of good clothing and shoes; perhaps even not receiving adequate nutrition. These are the sorts of abuses that are not so obvious and one of the very subtle abuses is just a lack of the demonstration of love within a family.
Child abuse is well known to be a problem in the Northern Territory. We only have to follow the stories in the Northern Territory News over the past 12 months to remind ourselves of this fact. For example, late last year media attention was on the fact that during the previous 12 months, there had been 200 cases of sexually transmitted infection among children aged under the aged of 15 years. It could be the case that a child was transmitting an infection to another child under the age of 15 when they were participating in sexual intercourse, but more than likely, the inference is that young children infected with a sexually transmitted disease are infected by an adult.
The incidence of sexually transmitted infections in the Northern Territory is very high. It is something of which we all have to be aware and work hard to overcome. The incidence of sexually transmitted infections indicates that sexual activity is occurring. We can assume, as I say, that many of the partners of these children will be adults and that is wrong and should be dealt with.
Another case was with regard to a child under the age of five - and there were graphic photos in the paper - apparently using a bong to smoke cannabis. That situation needs to be constantly monitored and is a most unusual situation, one would hope.
Another case was a baby who was abandoned at a petrol station, and another situation was the complaint and concerns from teachers in the Northern Territory who publicly expressed their unhappiness with the fact that after they had reported cases of what they suspected to be child abuse, there was no feedback as to how things were going and they are, of course, stuck in a class room situation feeling frustrated by that.
Territorians know that child abuse is a problem and has been going on for a long time. Some years ago, the Country Liberal Party, when in government, introduced an Australian first. This was that people like nurses and teachers who suspected that a child was being abused had to mandatorily report it to their supervisor who then had to report it to the Child Protection Unit. This was not an easy thing to do. At the time, I was a student teacher and we were all briefed on the matter. When I did practical experience in the Darwin area, we were well aware of the requirement that if we felt a child was being abused, we had to report it to our supervisor. It caused some discussion among teachers. I experienced the difficulty of the process once within a school at which I was doing a practical. It was not me who had to do the reporting, but there was concern with regards to how the family would respond to the reporting teacher because it is a very serious allegation to make. There was some stress amongst staff about having to make that report.
I am well aware from my time as a nurse with the difficulty, particularly for remote area nurses working in isolated communities when they suspected there was a case of child abuse, of when they reported it, what would happen to them? It was the case that a friend of mine had to be evacuated from a remote area community on a special flight for with her family owing to threats of serious violence because she had taken the step of reporting a child abuse case to the authorities.
It is something that has caused stress and concern for people who have to make those reports, but it is something that is very necessary for them to do and it is something that, to this day, people need a great deal of support behind them when they make these complaints.
Just over 12 months ago, a report was released called State of Denial: the neglect and abuse of indigenous children in the Northern Territory. It was researched and written by Julian Pocock, and printed in June 2003. This report, and indeed the minister’s statement, concentrate to a degree on child abuse in Aboriginal communities, as I will now. However, I do emphasise, as the minister has, that the problem of child abuse knows no racial boundaries. It may well be more prevalent among Aboriginal communities owing to social factors such as poverty, crowded housing, broken families and substance abuse that some people in those communities suffer.
I will now quote substantially from the executive summary of this report because, to me, to captures the issues very well:
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, what we are participating in today is called a parliamentary debate. Many consider a debate to be two opposing arguments. In this case, it is not a debate as such because I believe everyone in this House knows that children are being abused and more should be done. I am pleased to speak in support of the minister’s statement. I have travelled with this minister, the member for Arafura, and I am well aware of her passion and commitment to this issue. I wish her all the very best with it.
Aboriginal people are now rising up and publicly saying it is not on, just as we saw in the Northern Territory 10 years ago, when our then Chief Minister, Marshall Perron, said: ‘Domestic violence is not on, and if you cannot live by that code, you had better leave the Northern Territory’. It was a proud moment for me when I heard Marshall Perron expound that view. Today, we have a minister of the Crown talking about child abuse, and I applaud her for it.
This is a difficult area for people working in the system; nurses, teachers, police and particularly for the staff working in the Child Protection Unit. We are aware that staff in the Child Protection Unit have been under considerable stress and, quite frankly, I cannot think of a more difficult area to work in the public service. I am quite sure that the staff are dedicated and trained people, and I am well aware of the shortage that we have in Australia of people with the qualifications that are needed in this area. It is going to be difficult for the minister to recruit and retain staff to that area. Late last year, the previous minister promised extra millions of dollars in funding to the area of child protection. I hope that this money plus the community support for this action will bear fruit; however, the staffing problems are going to be a continuing issue in whether the minister’s great plans come to fruition.
Several months ago, we had the Estimates process at which I asked the minister questions regarding staffing in the area of child protection. I have been advised, from a question taken on notice, that 12 months ago, in July 2003, there were 100 positions in the area of child protection in the Northern Territory. You will remember that, in December last year, extra money was mooted by government for child protection to increase staffing and resources.
As of 23 June this year, the number of positions has increased by nine to 109. The key question then that had to be asked was how many vacancies out of those 109 positions there are. That question was asked in June, and the answer was 21. So of 109 positions, 21 were vacant. That is just under 20% of the work force for which positions are empty. This will be contributing to the industrial unrest the Child Protection Unit has been experiencing over the past six months. Members will be aware that the union representing the staff of the Child Protection Unit, when they initiated the most unusual action of striking, claimed in the media that the reason they did that was because they felt that if they did not take strike action, they would continue to go down into the mire, which was a very depressing statement to hear from someone representing workers in this vital area.
I am aware of the problems with staffing in the area. I know the staff is obviously under stress because of the action that they have taken. I understand, from a media comment a couple of weeks ago, that this staffing situation has not been resolved yet, but the minister may be able to set us straight on that matter, and that it was still being negotiated at the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. I will be interested to hear from the minister of any update in that area when she responds at the end of this debate.
In the minister’s statement, there is no reference to any progress report being provided to the House and to the community as a whole. I hope the minister will consider providing such a report on progress within the next 12 months or, say, by Christmas next year.
We had some debate in the House several months ago with regards to a call from the Country Liberal Party for an independent inquiry into child abuse. That call was made in response to public comments at the time by Mr Charlie King, who was calling for an independent inquiry. We supported that by also calling for such an inquiry. We have had many reports and this State of Denial report is one of them, but it concentrates specifically on Aboriginal children. Through an inquiry, it would have been interesting to get a good picture or good base line on child abuse across the Northern Territory because Aboriginal people make up about 25% of the population; what about the other 75%? In particular, what I would have been interested in looking at in such an inquiry is the situation with the Child Protection Unit and how it is coping with the increased incidence of reporting from the community.
Hopefully, the minister will be able to respond positively with regard to a review of the situation by, say, Christmas. I know the minister has made comment about being pleased to see the increasing number of complaints being made, or concerns being raised, with regards to specific potential child abuse cases. With the minister, I concede that one of the reasons there could well be an increased number of complaints is because the message is getting out into the community that this is not to be tolerated, and that you can report to someone.
Equally of concern is that I am well aware that the incidence of drug abuse in certain areas of the community appears to be escalating dramatically. If you look, for example, at remote communities on the northern coast of the Northern Territory, there is an incredible amount of cannabis being smoked, to a very harmful level, within those communities. I wonder whether there is a correlation between the increased incidence of reporting child abuse and a perception, one that I certainly have, that there is an increasing usage of illicit drugs in certain communities. I hope that the reason there is an increase in the reporting rate is based solely on the fact that people are feeling more comfortable about seeking help on this matter, and that there is not, in fact, an increase in the incidence of child abuse in the Northern Territory.
I genuinely wish the minister all the very best in this area. We will be watching to see how it goes. I will be looking forward to attending the inaugural meeting of the council tomorrow morning with her. I wish you all the very best, minister.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I commend my colleague, the Minister for Family and Community Services, for introducing this very important and, at times, very powerful statement.
I believe, hearing the member for Port Darwin speak, that there is genuine and sincere support for action to be taken on these terrible activities within our community. As government, we are seeking a bipartisan approach. We do not resile from having proper scrutiny of what the government is doing, but there are many things we can do through a bipartisan approach to address these very difficult problems.
The commitment of a society to the safety of its children is a commitment of a society to its own future. One of the most disturbing things about child abuse and neglect is not just the short-term effects, terrible though these may be. Abuse and neglect have long-term effects on a person, on a family and on a community over years and decades. They undermine the trust we need in each other to work and live together, to solve problems together, to be an inclusive, flexible and open society. That is why we must make protecting our children and young people from harm a crucial commitment of government, and indeed, of this parliament.
Looking at such a difficult set of circumstances that lead to this activity, there has to be an holistic approach. I pick up that one of the major themes of the Minister for Family and Community Services is that doing better in this very difficult area requires a coordinated package of strategies that tackles risk to children, family needs and community needs.
For this government, an important part of the package for protecting children is ensuring that they are protected from ill-health. The Child Health and Wellbeing initiative is a key program this government has introduced in this area. We also need to ensure that our legal system plays its role in making communities safe for children and young people. There are a number of initiatives we have introduced in this area. In both areas, fostering community and family responsibility is a crucial part of our response.
In Building Healthier Communities, our holistic approach is set out in detail. This document was launched in February 2004 by minister Scrymgour and me. Building Healthier Communities makes giving kids a good start in life one of the six top priorities of this government in Health and Community Services. Protecting and nurturing our children is fundamental to making the next generation of Territorians healthier than this one. Giving kids a good start in life may seem an obvious thing to do, but it is only in the last few years that scientific evidence has begun to document how poor child and prenatal health contributes directly to a lifetime of poor health and very often to early onset of chronic disease.
Last week in this House, I spoke about a conversation I had with a nurse at Ambladawatj community in my electorate. She talked about a two year-old child who had already suffered kidney damage as a result of preventable infections arising from the living conditions to which the child was subject. That underlines just how graphic and confronting these connections are now that we have the evidence in front of us. At five years of age, a child can be on a trajectory to a dialysis machine and we have to take these issues on in a very wide context. Protecting children means giving them a fair chance of having an adult life that is healthy and fundamentally sound.
Improving child health can lead to long-term improvements in adult wellbeing, especially for many chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. As well, improving kids’ early years pays off in their education, employment and avoiding antisocial behaviour and crime. It is just so basic: if a kid comes to school with otitis media and can barely hear, it is going to be very difficult to teach them. What we do now for children is deliver better health services, support families, and work to overcome disadvantage. This will have positive effects not just now, but for many years to come.
Looking at our Child Health and Wellbeing initiative, doomsayers are always saying nothing ever changes in Aboriginal health. I do not agree, and I strongly believe we cannot afford to give into such despair or cynicism. There has been progress. What this government aims to do is to ensure that we take a positive attitude and build on success. The Child Health and Wellbeing initiative is a central plank in our contribution to child protection through better child health.
The Child Health and Wellbeing initiative includes funding for 25 additional health staff for rural and remote communities and was a Labor government election commitment at $2.2m. A new Territory-wide child health team has been established for remote communities in the Northern Territory. The multidisciplinary team includes child health nurses, Aboriginal health workers, nutritionalists, Strong Women coordinators, Aboriginal health promotion officers and community child workers. These positions are based in both government and non-government services. Town-based staff are located in Darwin, Nhulunbuy, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. The team has commenced providing program support, training and practical assistance to remote area health centres and communities, and working collaboratively with the health zones.
Coordinators in Central Australia and the Top End are providing leadership and guidance to staff and will ensure a coordinated and consistent approach to evidence-based services and interventions to improve child health outcomes under the guidance of the department’s Program Director for Maternal, Child and Youth Health.
Eighteen of the 18.5 departmental positions have been filled. The team’s priorities are to ensure universal child health monitoring for children in remote communities through the Growth Assessment and Action Program with an emphasis on action for those children who are not thriving, and roll out of the Healthy School-Age Kids program in collaboration with the Department of Employment Education and Training. These will be based on a community development approach based on local needs and include maternal health, early nurturing and care, and child health monitoring for early detection and intervention in problems such as ear disease and hearing loss.
A feature of local planning will be the development of a child health plan in each community. These may start simply and develop over time to a whole-of-community plan involving the school, crche, council and visiting Health and Community Services staff.
This is the biggest single boost ever to child health services in remote Northern Territory communities. It is a best-buy investment in the safety and health of our children, for the health system and for the future of the Territory. The best thing is that the program is recognising and building on our successes. The new resources will be used to support staff and community in work where they have often been trying to fit in, unfunded and un-resourced, around all the other tasks they have to do.
I will quote a few success stories, one being the reduction of childhood anaemia in Darwin rural communities. We are seeing a significant reduction in the rates of childhood anaemia from 52% of children under five years to 19%. These lower rates have been maintained over 12 months. Some large communities have achieved very low rates of 5%.
The Katherine West Health Board has used their funding as part of comprehensive community controlled program to look at child health, including Karu, Kurdu Jarlik: Baby Book, a personal parent-held child health record; Child Health Action Plans for children who are growing poorly or have chronic health problems; child health screening including expanding the 0-5 year-old screening to include surveillance of ear and skin health and annual ear examination for all school-aged children; health education in schools; a 10-week health education program; and kids’ health information days to communicate with communities about the health status of their children.
Through the new Aboriginal Community Worker at Borroloola, the community is increasing its awareness of improving maternal and child health issues. Activities so far include hands-on cooking lessons, one-to-one counselling, shopping guide, home health and hygiene improvements, and improvements to the environment where they live. Importantly, I understand that at Borroloola, husbands and boyfriends are interested in the program. This underlines the important role that men, too, can play in the health of their children.
I am confident that the child health and wellbeing initiative, with other programs, will permanently change the health landscape and, ultimately, the health profile of the Territory.
I turn now to another side of my portfolio responsibilities, justice. Part of our commitment to the Territory’s children is about reforming our child protection system, as we have done through a massive injection of funds and review of the Community Welfare Act. It is about protecting our children against ill-health and ensuring they grow up without the threat of a lifetime of chronic disease, but it is also about reforming our legal and court systems. I would like to describe a number of our key interventions in this area.
I announced the new Sexual Assault Task Force in response to our concerns about the spiked increased in a number of sexual crimes. The primary focus of the task force is reducing the level of sexual offences across the Territory through the development of a targeted whole-of-government sexual assault prevention plan.
The task force is currently investigating Northern Territory data, researching police and legal responses across Australia, exploring service models, particularly in relation to indigenous survivors, and gathering information on the issues facing the reporting, investigation and prevention of sexual assault in remote areas. Whilst primarily focussing on sexual offences against adults, the work of the task force in improving our investigative and criminal justice responses to these crimes will strengthen our responses to offences against young people.
Last year, this government significantly strengthened NT criminal law, introducing legislation that brought about substantial increases in the penalties applied to those who harm our children. These laws toughened up the offences related to sexual intercourse and activity with children, increasing the penalties, creating some new offences and tightening up on inappropriate defences. Prior to these reforms, the maximum penalty for an offence of sexual intercourse or gross indecency with a child was seven years imprisonment where the child was over 14 years, and 14 years imprisonment where the child was under the age of 14. The maximum penalty for this offence has increased to 16 years imprisonment. We also introduced new aggravated offences that attract even higher penalties.
In circumstances where a child is particularly vulnerable, where the offender is not alone, the child is under the authority of the offender, has a serious disability, or is affected by alcohol or drugs, the penalty will increase to 20 years imprisonment. Where a child is under the age of 10, the maximum penalty will be 25 years. These increases send a message to potential offenders that the community will not tolerate sexual interference with our children. These penalties are among the toughest in the nation.
Reforms to the Evidence Act: Australian research tells us that the current operation of the legal system disadvantages children who report sexual assault. That is why, last week, I introduced a raft of reforms to the Evidence Act to allow children and other vulnerable witnesses to give evidence by pre-recorded statement, abolish oral examinations of children at committal proceedings for sexual offences, and amend the Evidence Act in relation to the questioning of witnesses and child witnesses in particular.
Reform to our legal system is just one part of the coordinated package of strategies that this government is putting in place to protect our children and to create safer communities for all Territorians.
Later this year, I will introduce new laws to stop criminals who use or make pornographic material involving children. Our amendments will also update the Criminal Code Act so that those who use new technologies - the Internet, chat rooms, or peer-to-peer computing - to procure child abuse materials are subject to the full force of the law.
Juvenile justice and juvenile detention: we know that all too often, a history of abuse or neglect is a sad fact of life for those young people who commit crime. That is why we are also putting in place measures that, while punishing young people who commit crime, are actively working to get them back on the right track. This government believes that children who break the law should be kept out of detention and with their families wherever possible. We believe kids deserve a better opportunity to succeed.
In March this year, a discussion paper on the Juvenile Justice Act was released for public comment. This is an important review. Many sections and members of the community have strong views on the operation of our juvenile justice system. I am pleased that many members of the community took the opportunity to have their say. On completion of the review process, I look forward to bringing new legislation before this House.
As part of our strategy to prevent crime and build safer communities, we have made significant changes to improve the outcomes of juvenile detention. A new facility has been constructed adjacent to the Don Dale Centre in Darwin at a cost of $1.9m. This is not just a new building. The new facilities are critical to improve detention programs, which aim to address offender behaviour, assist skills development, and meet the rehabilitation needs of juveniles. I must say I went there to have a first look at the new facility yesterday. It is just going to be an amazingly good addition to our juvenile detention capacity. The new facility is expected to be in operation in some eight weeks from now.
Aranda House in Alice Springs will remain as the principal juvenile holding facility for Central Australia. Juveniles stay there on a short-term basis, generally up to four days. Substantial renovations were undertaken at Aranda House recently at a cost $60 000, and further upgrades are likely to take place this year.
Following successful negotiations with the Commonwealth, funding under the Juvenile Diversion Scheme has been extended until 2005, with the program now being administered by the Department of Justice.
Indigenous family violence programs: we know that domestic and family violence place our children at risk, and this is one of the reasons why, through our new partnership with the ATSIC Regional Councils, we are going to run a new indigenous family violence program at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre. This project will be supplemented by community-based family violence programs in four remote communities; two in the Top End and two in Central Australia. These programs will sit alongside the existing projects being run under the Aboriginal family violence strategy.
Community and family responsibility: my colleague, in her statement, made a very powerful point about the need for families and community leaders to come in with us on these very difficult issues and to offer their support and strength to what we are trying to do, be they indigenous or non-indigenous. This is absolutely critical to our success, whether we are working through justice processes, through the processes of FACS or through our health clinics and health centres.
A key feature is that we need to engender renewed community and family responsibility and control over the processes to which we are working. Family and community are vital to our good health. Families are where we get much of our ability to deal with the challenges we face in life. Strengthening and supporting family and community action in health and justice is the key strategy, as I said in this place last week.
Family commitment and action is particularly important for children who are dependent on the adults around them and the environment in which they live. Government can provide funded programs and services but the community, at the individual and collective level, mush also engage the problem. We will support communities in this, particularly by encouraging healthy and supportive roles in both men and women. This is a difficult and sometimes fraught process. It is no good pretending that we or the community or anyone else has all the answers, but we can all give commitment to the process of working with the community and its organisations on these issues.
We cannot do this alone. All members of our community have to be responsible for what they can do to protect the children of the Territory. I join with my colleague, the member for Arafura, in restating the importance of this relationship. As Minister for Justice, I have seen law and justice strategies established in a number of communities and have seen first-hand the strength and determination of these communities in dealing with the issues we have before us today. Yesterday, I announced an extension of the funding to law and justice initiatives through the partnership with ATSIC Regional Councils. Such initiatives and partnerships are a positive step in dealing with a range of problems that face many indigenous communities, including child abuse and neglect.
In conclusion, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, we know that abuse and neglect in all sections of the community is under-reported. While previous governments may have shrugged their shoulders, I do not think there is any value in looking back on the long history of these problems; we have to look forward together and in a bipartisan way. Child abuse is a problem; its affects are devastating and cannot be ignored.
We have to be positive and constructive in addressing these issues, and face them alongside partnerships with the community. This government is putting in place strategies to build healthier and safer communities. By doing so, and by putting the protection of young people at the heart of these commitments, we are protecting the most vulnerable members of our community and are making a commitment to the future of an inclusive, vibrant, safe and healthy Northern Territory.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, from the outset, I thank the minister for her statement, along with the member for Port Darwin. I know that the minister has a deep and genuine personal commitment to this area, as do I, the member for Port Darwin, and my other colleagues.
Having thanked her for the statement, I want to go through some areas because I expected much more. I had a spring in my step last night after about 6 pm because I was really looking forward to this statement. I was very excited, took it back to my hotel room and thought: ‘This will be a late night. I will get stuck into this and will give it lots of consideration’. However, I got to about page 12 and I did not see much that was new or especially innovative. I kept flicking through the pages, did not see a lot there and I will speak to some concerns I have shortly.
It is important at this juncture that I say that there is bipartisan support when it comes to child abuse. That is the case in this parliament and, I would suggest, every parliament not just in this country, but around the world. However, bipartisan support does not mean that we, as an opposition party, simply sit back, read the statement and say ‘Hearty congratulations’ at the end of it. It is incumbent upon us to scrutinise the government, to look beyond some of the words and to drill down on some of the things that are said. I hope that the minister will reply to some of the comments I have to make.
It is a very Labor government looking statement. It makes government look busy. It claims new things on the horizon but, at the end of the statement, very little has been developed so far. It is a bit of a ‘gunna’ statement; gunna do this, gunna do that. In parts, it is not intellectually satisfying. To say that it lacks analysis is something of an understatement.
It read like the sort of statement that someone who actually knew what they were talking about wrote it in the first instance and then it was handed over to the minister’s office where the spin doctors had a bit of a go. You can see throughout, where it seems to be developing a theme and then it just amounts to spin. That is pretty disappointing.
The truth of some of the statements is, I would suggest, highly questionable. I will start with one that is probably the most important in terms of the comments I wish to make, and that is at page 34 of the statement. It says, and I quote:
That is at page 34 of a 37 page statement. I have read this a couple of times now. That statement simply cannot be supported, having regard to the contents of this statement. I suggest that even a village idiot could work out that it is not supported. The statement that it is ‘undeniable’ that there have been considerable achievements is wrong having regard to what is contained in this statement. I will go through some of it.
I am quoting particular words. The minister talked about the way forward, developing new legislation and reforms. The statement makes a reference to government inaction in the past, and I will certainly come back to that. The minister said action and not information that is needed now. She said our primary focus will be on preventing all kinds of harm and supporting families, etcetera. She said government must act. She said money alone will not solve the problems. She said we need reform at all levels of our system. She said one of the her key objectives is to increase child abuse awareness and reporting, but did not say how. She said that recruitment of staff is a key focus of the strategy. She said that the department has developed a recruitment strategy, and I note the comments of the member for Port Darwin earlier that 20 per cent of them do not appear to be filled.
The minister said we are enhancing training and professional development for staff. The statement goes on: ‘We are developing a workload management system’ and says elsewhere that they are diligently working with the staff. The minister referred to the formation of a reference group, which is recent. She said we are building economically and socially sustainable communities that are more confident and capable when it comes to child rearing. If I have time I will come back to that, but she certainly did not tell us how.
The minister said the initiatives of the Labor government are to progress an integrated response to children and their families and communities, strengthen cohesion, provide physical profile, community and family support services but did not say how. She said: ‘We’re gunna’. The statement says at page 25:
It does not give any details of the review; it does not give anything except ‘we are reviewing’. Interestingly, the minister, early on in her statement, said: ‘We are not going to have another review; we have about 20 reviews’. Notwithstanding that, she said: ‘We are reviewing, we are reviewing, we are reviewing’.
She said Child Protection and Disability Services staff will soon be working together under a joint protocol and further that that disability services program is revising and developing. It goes on, I am now up to page 27: ‘We are developing first response guidelines.’ Good on you! ‘We are currently amending or revising ...’. Good on you! It goes on with references, for instance, in relation to gambling: ‘It must be addressed,’ she said. Yes. I am at page 33 now: ‘We will progressively establish service programs aimed at enabling problems to be identified and remedial work to be commenced early and locally’. Good! Can we have some more detail, please? Then at page 35: ‘We will take bold actions …’, bold actions, ‘… when required to protect children.’ I have not seen any and I am up to page 36. That concludes 37 pages.
I think that is very light on. The statement that it is undeniable that there are considerable achievements attained by this government is wrong. I know it is wrong, you know it is wrong, everyone else knows it is wrong. I say that noting, at the same time, the minister’s personal commitment to this. She knows I am serious, but if you think that we are going to sit back and swallow 37 pages of words just because you say so, you are wrong. We do not do it with anything else and we are certainly not about to do it when it comes to child abuse.
There is spin, but there has to be a point at which we collectively nail our colours to the mast and say: ‘No, no, no’. How about on this one we not do spin? Wouldn’t that be good? But, no, alas for this government; they have decided to spin child abuse. Shame on you.
I will go to some other points. I have a very interesting colour coding system through this statement. The green is all the gunna, gunna, gunna and the blue is the areas where I can show beyond a doubt that the statement is light on and we should have been provided with much more information. I can only hope that someone in the minister’s office actually has this information and perhaps the next time a statement is forthcoming, it will be provided. I refer at page five of 37 to the reference to government inaction. That is a gentle slap, it seems to me, at former CLP governments. Former CLP governments should not be slapped. Former CLP governments in this area were cutting edge.
The member for Wanguri obviously finds child abuse very funny. Shame on you, member for Wanguri. Shame on you. When your constituents find out that you were having a bit of a giggle during a statement on child abuse, they will judge you accordingly. You should not be laughing. I find it extraordinary, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, that the member for Wanguri, the Leader of Government Business, is laughing throughout this statement. You should leave if you cannot keep a straight face. Get out of the Chamber! Why are you smiling? Is this funny? I do not think so. We do not think so. Hands up who thinks child abuse is funny! Member for Wanguri, put up your hand. Go on! If you don’t, you should just sit there and you should just shut up!
Mr Henderson: You are pathetic. You are truly pathetic.
Ms CARNEY: Just shut up!
Mrs AAGAARD: A point of order, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker. Surely what the member just said is unparliamentary, and I would ask her to withdraw.
Ms CARNEY: Yes, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I withdraw and replace it with: ‘Be quiet’.
The second point: the CLP was the leading jurisdiction to introduce mandatory reporting of child abuse. Is that noteworthy and important? Yes, it is, and it was done during a period when there was some controversy and yet the CLP administration stuck to their guns and got on with it.
It was the CLP about 20 years ago that head-hunted around the country for a child protection specialist. I think it was under Paul Everingham. I know this because someone very close to me was, in fact, that person, a child protection specialist who was hunted from Adelaide and who came up here. Is there anything in this statement to show that level of commitment from this government on child abuse? If there is, can someone please point it out to me? I have not seen it; I just have not seen it.
Let us go and find some more blue bits. Here we go! I am at page 12 now. This comment is made in relation to increased reporting. It goes on for a number of pages, but it commences on page 12, and says:
It does not say, in this statement, why that might be the case. There is no attempt to analyse this. It is just saying that, miraculously, after 18 August 2001, Aboriginal people suddenly thought: ‘Oh, great. We did not report child abuse under the CLP, but now we report child abuse under the Australian Labor Party Northern Territory Branch’? I would not have thought so, but you could draw that conclusion on the basis of this comment. I would like to know, and I think the minister and her colleagues have an obligation to bring this information to the parliament, why has reporting of child abuse gone up in Aboriginal communities? Isn’t that the obvious question? Would it not be great to have an answer?
Also on page 12, the minister said:
It does not say how. I would like to know. If there are answers being provided or if there is any analysis as to how child abuse in Aboriginal communities is practically being addressed - forget all the spin. How is it being practically addressed? I hope the minister can provide us with an answer.
The minister also said that she is optimistic about overcoming the abuse in remote communities. I want to know the basis of that optimism. That is not borne out anywhere in this statement, on my view. She might say it is, but she would have to agree, surely, that there are many statements but there is really nothing there to back them up. As I was going through it, I kept writing: ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ I ask the minister very sincerely to take that on board.
She referred to, again on page 12:
How? What move? On page 13, she claimed that notifications are increasingly coming from remote communities. May I have a breakdown, please? How many notifications are there? What percentage of those notifications, and from what period, result in substantiated claims? The obvious question to the second paragraph on page 13 is: why?
She referred to 32 new operational staff to join Family and Community Services. Are there any child protection specialists among them? I would like to know, and Territorians would also like to know. I commend her on the development of a recruitment strategy. That is great, but bums on seats is one way to improve matters which, I am sure, she knows.
At page 18, she mentioned that we can help prevent and reduce child abuse and neglect by building economically and socially sustainable communities that are more confident and capable when it comes to child rearing. How? That is not borne out. There are some encouraging programs, and some examples. How is the statement I just quoted page 18 supported? It does not appear to be supported here.
The minister gave a summary of government’s initiatives to progress integrated response to children and their families; strength and cohesion, provide a physical and program profile in the community for child and family support services. How?
She went on, and I am at page 24, to talk about service provision. She said we need to do this in a way that strengthens communities and makes them safer places for children. Yes, but how?
I acknowledge, as we all do, all 25 of us, how difficult it is to stop, and improve, the dysfunction that exists in Aboriginal communities throughout the Northern Territory. How does the minister propose to make those dysfunctional communities safer for children? If there is an answer, I would like to hear it. The spin from this statement is that Labor does have the answers. I would especially like to know the answer to that one.
Unfortunately, I am running out of time, but I will keep ploughing on. On page 25, she said:
In the next paragraph, she went onto something else. Again, this is another example of the fact that there is just not enough information to support some of the statements that have been made. I know that the Labor Party people will say: ‘Oh, Carney is being political’. I am not; I want some analysis or points to support some of the incredible claims and statements that are being made; well intentioned on the part of this minister, I might say. Some will say that sounds patronising. It is not; it is not meant to be. She knows very well that I admire her commitment to this area.
However, to produce a statement full of words without analysis has to be, surely, one of the cardinal sins that we, as politicians, and particularly those in government, can commit.
The minister, on page 26, said that she has started to implement a series of measures that will improve the way children with disabilities are protected and families are supported to care for the children. What are they? They are not here. She refers on page 27 to funding to develop a video on sexual assault which reflects community views. That takes up two lines. I would like more information on that: where is it going; where will it be distributed; who will see it; will it be a television ad; will it go to remote communities, urban centres; and so on?
On the same page, 27, she said:
Over the page, there is another subject altogether. I would like to know the result of that detailed analysis. I am encouraged because the words ‘detailed analysis’ exist. I would like to think that the details of that analysis can be obtained by members of this Assembly and, in a wider sense, the people of the Northern Territory.
On page 28, the minister said:
Two points: one, it is not new; second, it is the law. So, I am not quite sure why …
Mr Dunham: Third, they always did it.
Ms CARNEY: They always did it. There is a bit of blurb on page 28 about legislative amendments that will better protect children. The first one in terms of the Criminal Code Act is about perpetrators, not victims. If you increase penalties, the evidence, both in Australia and some in places …
Ms CARTER: Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I move that my colleague be granted an extension of time in order to conclude her remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Ms CARNEY: Research, off the top of my head, and I have files of this stuff, is that it is not always the case that increasing penalties translates to a reduction in the number of offences.
Let us be honest: this statement about ‘we are going to legislate to better protect children’ is about getting stuck into the offenders, and people with any level of expertise in this field, unlike the member for Wanguri who, at least, is not smiling anymore, know that there is a high re-offending rate, particularly among those who sexually abuse children.
I remind members what I said in this Chamber on 25 November last year, a significant day in more ways than one. I said of the government’s legislation that passed in the House in the wee hours of the morning of the 26th and I quote:
I went through and outlined, on the face of it, the laudable proposal that penalties be increased. I then went through and outlined the possible consequences for offenders, that is, if they are looking down the barrel of a 25 year sentence they may indeed go all the way to hearing. In other words, they will not plead guilty at an early stage as happens on occasion. In other words, these people will, in all likelihood, go all the way to hearing and that means that children will be giving evidence. I said on 25 November and I quote:
Are there good parts of it? Absolutely. Is the minister committed to this area? Absolutely, unlike the laughing member for Wanguri. In particular, I will welcome the Community Welfare Act in November, and I have had numerous discussions with the minister about that. When the Community Welfare Act was born, I think in about 1982 or 1983, it was regarded as a pretty good act. It was, again, cutting edge. The Northern Territory led the way. Has it dated? Yes. Does it need a review? Absolutely.
However, what all of us, all 25 I hope, want to see is the Northern Territory continuing to take its rightful place in this country by saying that we are at the cutting edge of child abuse and preventing child abuse, and making the legislative arrangements that are important in that regard. So am I looking forward to the new Community Welfare Act? More than many people will ever know.
As I said earlier, the minister referred to gambling and said it must be addressed. Again, I ask: how? What is being done? How will it be done? That does not emerge. It is paragraphs put together for the most part, I will be fair, without any follow through.
There are some interesting comments in relation to the Aboriginal community but, again, no details as to how things will be done. When you go to a town camp, for instance, in Alice Springs, as I did and the most recent one I went to was probably about three weeks ago and you see the squalor, the poor hygiene and conditions that those kids live in, I felt absolutely ashamed, appalled, disgusted.
I remember issuing a media release not long after the Jackie Pascoe case surfaced. That must have been in about October 2002. The heading for that media release was: ‘There is no sliding scale of child abuse’. I hope that this government and the minister do not adhere to the view that there is a sliding scale of child abuse. There are little kids running around the town camps that are in all of our electorates and, for some members, their entire electorates are made up of Aboriginal communities, some doing less well than others. None of us can say that many of those little kids are not abused. The minister, early in her statement, was at pains to say we are just not talking about sexual abuse; we are talking about physical and emotional abuse, and so on. I cannot see those little kids in some of those town camps or communities who are not being abused. They are malnourished. They do not go to school. They are living in squalor that their parents just throw out and let their kids sit there. There are camp dogs running around. Now, if that is not child abuse, I would like to know what is.
Is it easy to solve? No, it is not easy to solve. I hope that these words, these paragraphs connected together to make this statement actually understand that there is no sliding scale of child abuse. If the minister is serious about tackling it and asking people in the Aboriginal community to step up to the plate, then there will have to be some significant changes. I do not think these changes could have been made, frankly, under the CLP. The reason for that is that had we, the CLP, been more proactive when it comes to the Aboriginal community and child abuse, we would have been vilified and tossed around all over the place.
We would have had people in Australia, those noisy commentators and others, and probably around the world saying: ‘You pack of racists’. This Labor government, strangely enough, seems to get away with saying the sorts of things on occasion that the CLP said, but they get away with it because they are a Labor mob. If, by the existence of a Labor government in the Northern Territory, they can effect far reaching change in some of these Aboriginal communities, well and good. We know some of these communities are dysfunctional, are disgusting, are clearly unhygienic and some, not all, you would have to say, breed child abuse given the definition of child abuse as it is universally accepted but certainly under the existing definitions in Part 4 of the Community Welfare Act, which deals with deprivation, impairment, malnutrition and so on. I need not go through that.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I have had an extension of time. I could go on and on and on because this is a special interest of mine. I have been interested in this as a lawyer; I was interested in this at university; I have files of information when it comes to child welfare and child abuse, all forms. I did have spring in my step when I took this statement home to the hotel last night. What a great disappointment. It is an opportunity lost. I heartily commend the minister for her passion, but we need a bit more than that.
Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the minister on such a wide ranging and visionary statement to this House on how we as a government are going to systemically tackle the issue of child abuse in the Northern Territory.
It is very disappointing that the previous speaker decided to turn what was essentially a unique individual contribution along the lines of a bipartisan approach in to some sort of political football. That is just hype; but it is the patronising and paternalistic rant that we have come to expect from the member for Araluen.
She talked about spin and said that this statement was full of spin. As police minister, I have said before that this parliament can pass all the laws in the world to try to redress any number of criminal and social problems in the Northern Territory, but the fundamental issue is that if you do not back up the service delivery agencies with resources, and if you do not back up the police with resources to enforce the laws, then talk about spin; it is just rhetoric. You can have all the laws in the world, but without backing them up with resources on the ground, funding for the agencies, additional resources to the law enforcement agency, as sure as eggs are eggs, you are going nowhere.
The member for Araluen said this is all spin and nothing has happened. I commend my colleague, the member for Nightcliff, who, as health minister, presented a submission to Cabinet some 12 to 18 months ago pointing out the paucity of resources in the Family and Children’s Services area to deal with what was very quickly becoming a crisis in the capacity of that agency to deliver services to children in need. I commend the member for Nightcliff for bringing that submission to Cabinet, and I can say it was one of the quickest decisions we have made as a Cabinet, to commit significant additional funding to that part of the Health Department. So significant was it, I think, if you do the sums, it was a 155% increase in funding from the last budget of the previous CLP administration to the current budget of this Labor government.
For the member to be so patronising of, and insulting to, our minister and say this is all platitudes, it is all spin, you are doing nothing, there is a $20m budget. It is a real insult to those people in the department who, every day, as my colleague, the minister, was saying, and we all know, go out into extraordinarily difficult, traumatic circumstances to try to make a difference. The member for Araluen waltzing in here with her hand on her heart professing to have had a life long interest in this area and said that it is nothing but spin and we are doing nothing is an absolute insult to every one of those people who work in that agency and daily encounter situations that most of us would probably never countenance.
I totally deny that this government is indulging in spin on this issue. It was a pretty pathetic effort from the member for Araluen, the bleeding heart of the CLP. It was an extraordinary to essentially argue for a softening or weakening of sentences that this parliament passed in November last year for the perpetrators of child abuse. If the member for Araluen wants to walk out the door, and this is now CLP policy, they are actually going to wind back these penalties, then I cannot wait to see that because I am sure the other nine members will crunch her in the party room on that. She is probably the only member in this parliament who believes that those increases in sentencing were not warranted, given that we probably have the highest incidence of child abuse in Australia. It is a sign, from this parliament and from the people of the Northern Territory, that it will not be tolerated, and if you are convicted of abusing children, whether it is sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, or whatever the type of abuse, if you are convicted, you will face a stiff penalty.
That the member for Araluen would argue that we should be watering down those sentences, again, defies belief. I am sure that she will not put that in her electorate newsletter: ‘Today I stood up in the parliament and called for a reduction in sentences for people who abuse children in the Northern Territory’, because that is essentially what she said this evening.
As a government, we have tried to address this issue across a number of agencies. I would like to talk about the role that the police play. The member for Araluen warbled on about us doing nothing and it all being spin. I would like to point to the significant increase in funding for Family and Children’s Services, and the additional $75m for 200 police for the Northern Territory Police Service because the capacity for police to respond to cries of help across the Northern Territory have, very definitely, been enhanced by this increase in funding.
We all know that police deal with the crimes and the misery of these appalling offences every day: in General Duties, CIB, Domestic Violence Unit and through the specialised Sexual Crimes Unit. I have visited the Domestic Violence Unit at Nightcliff, and spoken to officers who deal with these issues on a day-to-day basis. In my early time as police minister in talking to police across Darwin and Alice Springs, there were tensions because police were confronted with issues of allegations of child abuse and there was a lack of resources in Family and Children’s Services, as it was 12 to 18 months ago, to refer people on. I do not even think back in those days, given the paucity of resources in Family and Children’s Services in Darwin, there was even a 24-hour …
Mr Dunham: Rubbish.
Mr HENDERSON: … on call, 24 by 7, Family and Children’s Services staff on board to take calls after hours. The member for …
Mr Dunham: Well, you must have cut it out …
Mr HENDERSON: No, no. The member for Drysdale says ‘Rubbish’. All I am saying is what we encountered.
There has been a significant increase to funding to both FACS and police, and that is part of our commitment to doing the job as opposed to the rhetoric of the member for Araluen. I will give a specific example of how the increase in funding is making a difference in this child abuse area in the Northern Territory: our commitment to the Kintore Police Station. I spoke about it in the House the other day.
It was a very emotional time when I opened that police station some six or eight months ago, to see the dysfunction in that community as a result of no police presence; the fact that the health clinic many times a week was closed down when women were presenting to the clinic with their children seeking refuge from drunken, hostile perpetrators of abuse, not only on women and children, but the clinic was being bunkered down on many occasions. I talked to teachers at the school who said they could not keep teachers in that community because, essentially, the level of substance abuse, property crime and theft in the community meant there was a turnover in teachers. Children could not sleep at night so they were not going to school. In the previous period of six months, the health clinic had been closed about 73 times. We now have a police station with four officers and in the six months that it has been open, not once have women and children had to seek refuge in the health clinic at that community.
The member for Araluen talked about us doing nothing; it is all spin. There is a lot to do, and we in this parliament, and the people of the Northern Territory, cannot afford a fully-fledged police station and four coppers in every indigenous community in the Northern Territory. However, we are working very hard across government to try to address very significant issues, not only of child abuse, but violence in our community. In a spirit of bipartisan support, some recognition of that fact from the member from Araluen, the bleeding heart of the CLP, would not have gone astray.
We know that many of the issues relating to child abuse go back to substance abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, petrol sniffing and dysfunctional communities. As well as introducing a raft of legislation, we acknowledge these issues up-front and will be relentless in our pursuit of people who peddle drugs in our communities. Giving police extra resources means that they can do better in tackling the grog runners in those communities, people who peddle petrol and people who are taking large amounts of marijuana into remote communities. We are going to have two drug dogs by the end of the year. The primary role of those dogs will be to enforce drug laws in relation to drugs being run into remote communities. We are not saying we have fixed the problem, but we have acknowledged the scourge of drugs and substance abuse in our community and we are doing what we can to make a real effort there.
The new police plane: $2.3m for a new police plane in Alice Springs to enable police to respond quicker to remote communities in the event of not only instances of child abuse but violence and crime in the community. Again, a sign of a government not indulging in the age old political art of spinning an issue, but real money, real resources, real people on the ground trying to make a difference.
The member for Araluen talked about malnourished kids living in squalor. Yes, we have all seen it and it is a tragedy and a blight on the Northern Territory. It has been a problem for many years. But to say: ‘We could never really try to do anything about it, we could not try to address the problems because we would have been called racist’ is an absolute flight of fancy! It sounded to me like a total excuse for abrogating responsibility to have a go in a very difficult area. My colleague did not say in her statement tonight that she has the answers, but, by goodness, we will have a go and we have called for bipartisan support to have that go. The member for Araluen’s claim that: ‘We could not have a go because anything we would have done would have been tagged racist’ really does not stand up intelligent scrutiny or comment. It is a patently ridiculous assertion.
The minister referred to the significant amount of additional money to Family and Children’s Services and I have talked about police. My colleague, the Justice minister, talked about additional money for the corrections system. Even the member for Araluen recognised that you have repeat and serial offenders who often end up in our prison system. Through the review carried out recently by the government, it is a public document, we can see that there was an absolute paucity of programs in our institutions to try to stem the tide of re-offending. We have put significant extra money into Corrections, into rehabilitation programs, to try to stem the tide of re-offending. That is not spin; that is a commitment by this government to tackle crime and child abuse in the Northern Territory.
The Attorney-General introduced legislation this week to further protect children giving evidence on not only sexual abuse but other abuse in a court. That is not spin; that is legislation to empower children to tell their stories, to come forward without fear of intimidation through the legal system. That is not spin; that is commitment by this government.
I will be introducing legislation on Thursday, consistent with commitments made by all other police ministers across Australia, introducing a child sex offenders register that will require anyone convicted of a child sexual offence, including sexual intercourse, gross indecency and child pornography, to submit their personal details to police to be entered on to a police database for a period that is determined by the courts or default.
The public and parents deserve every confidence in the adults to whom they entrust their children in care, and that is a commitment that is being made nationally. Yes, the civil liberties lobby will say it is an onerous requirement placed on people once they have done the crime and done the time. Well, this government does not buy that. The level of re-offending is high, serial offending is high and the requirement for people to lodge those details so that the police can very quickly eliminate certain suspects from their inquiries when child abuse is reported, I hope, will achieve bipartisan support in this House. There will be very stiff penalties for people who do not submit themselves to the registrar or change their details when they move.
The member for Araluen’s claim that this statement is about spin and the government is doing nothing does not stand up to the facts about what we are doing with a significant investment of people and resources. At the end of the day, it is the people on the ground who are dealing with these tragic cases who deserve the support of every member in this House rather than being accused of indulging in government spin for a government that is good on rhetoric and short on facts.
There are many facts. I have put them on the table here tonight. I am sure my colleague, the Minister for Family and Children’s Services, will add to those tonight when she wraps up this statement.
The issue of child abuse is something that this government takes with the utmost seriousness. We have put in significant additional resources across various portfolios: health, police and corrections. There is a big tide to turn around. We are not saying we have all of the answers, but we are committed to doing what we can.
I urge all members to support the minister’s statement. I call on all members of this parliament to work to turn around child abuse in our community. It is not acceptable. This parliament should say, at every step, that it is not acceptable and we should collectively get behind the minister and get behind this statement.
Mr DUNHAM (Drysdale): I will start with a quote, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker. It is relevant to child abuse. I will come back to it later, but I will read it as a stepping stone into my speech, and the quote is this:
What we are talking about here does cross many portfolios, the police minister is dead right. He is dead right that you cannot have a health minister speak about child abuse by themselves; they have to talk across all areas and it does have to be an holistic approach.
We should, though, set the scene for this speech. First, the minister said there have been years of neglect, which I believe to be untrue and which I believe to be a slight on the same public servants the previous speaker spoke about. There have not been years of neglect in this area. We have had a recent history of a front page of a small child smoking a bong; we have had Mr Perrin from the teachers’ union commenting negatively about government policy in this area; we have had Mr Ellis from the Welfare Workers Union commenting negatively about government policy in this area; we have had Charlie King, Territorian of the Year, commenting negatively about sexually transmitted disease increases in this area; and we have had a story about a child abandoned and handed into the BP service station in Katherine recently.
The government has feeding programs for children who are attending school hungry that amount to some hundreds of thousands of dollars. We have statistics available to us that are of dubious use, and that has been admitted by the CEO of the Health Department; when comparing last year to this year, there is no comparison. Last year’s figures are useless and this year’s figures are equally useless.
Of the statistics that are available, we can see from the budget papers, for instance, notifications have gone up 223% from 1997-98 to 2000-03; we have seen children in care go up from 246 to 347 to May this year; and we are seeing problems with drugs on communities, problems with drugs in town, problems with societal change for the worst.
It is in that environment that we are discussing this. It would be a very brave or foolhardy minister who would make any pronouncements about changing any of these things quickly, but I applaud the fact that the current minister is seemingly serious about this issue, and I will give her due in that area. I will judge her on what happens.
However, I warn that our environment is not good. Many of these small children are at risk of death, disfigurement, disability and, in many cases, to be scarred emotionally and physically from what is happening today in these communities in the Northern Territory.
It is therefore a very important and emotional subject. It is a subject that must be debated and it is incumbent on all of us to make contributions that are, if critical, at least constructively critical so that at least we can reach a position where things will get better rather than worse. All of the statistics indicate things are getting worse. I was not happy to hear the minister say that she is quite comfortable with the statistics increasing. I would be most uncomfortable, if I were the minister, to utter words of this type. I quote from her speech:
That is, the number of child abuse notifications:
Now, it may well be under-reported, but our aim is to have child abuse notifications, substantiations and the actual incidence thereof decrease. It is no comfort to this House to have ministers saying: ‘It has gone up, but I told you, and that a very healthy sign because it means that people who were a bit wary about reporting in the past are now reporting’.
I was disappointed, too, that there was a political spin put to Aboriginal people reporting, for instance. That is in the statement. She said:
Since the change of government …
meaning that previously, there was a different situation, but since the government has come in, they have been able to force this change:
That is an interesting statement. It could be that there is a growing tide of disaffection and horror at this fairly common crime on Aboriginal communities. We know that to be the case because all of us have Aboriginal people coming to us, particularly women, who are drawing a line in the sand about some of these forms of offence that have been hidden behind various excuses in the past, including culture. It is for that reason that the matter is on the table in this House to be discussed, and we should not shy away from it.
If the minister is comfortable that the government can claim the credit for the nearly 100% increase in the three years that they have been in government, one also has to look at the fact that general notifications have increased by 223% in the five year period 1997-98 to 2002-03, from the minister’s statement. They are going up, whether they are black kids or white, they are going up at a remarkably high rate. It is not a rate in which we should take satisfaction about conveying the sense of community umbrage and disgust at this crime. They are going up because they are substantiated. Many of them are related to breakdowns in society’s mores and standards, and that is true of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities.
My own history is important because all of us can say how we have been involved in this area. I worked in the department that had responsibility for this act, not in that particular division, which was the Welfare Division of the Department of Community Development. I was there in 1983 when this act came into being. The act came into being because there was a particularly heinous crime that occurred with the death of a small child here. It transpired that the child and its family had been in contact with many organisations, both non-government and government, including the hospital. All of them had suspicions that the child was being abused, but there was no central point to which to refer it, and those suspicions generally came to well-meaning people who thought: ‘On the next occasion that this client presents, I am going to be vigilant about this and keep an eye on it’. Unfortunately, the child died before that could happen.
In 1983, a very courageous government decision was made, and that was to introduce universal mandatory reporting of child abuse. When it happened, there was great fear and trepidation because there was a fear that there would be frivolous, vexatious and other complaints that would have neighbourhood squabbles escalated to being notifications of child abuse. To our great horror, we found that was not the case. We found, like the minister is now trying to tell us, that it was significantly under-reported. What has to happen is people have to be told two things: first, it is their responsibility. It is not a matter of waiting for them to go to the hospital, the police or next time they go to child care. It is their responsibility, all of us, including in this room, as the member for Sanderson found out having heard his anecdote of coming across child abuse himself; the second thing is there is a place for it to go. They were the two things that were decided.
There is a report that is a little bit old, it is 1998-99, which goes through the mandatory reporting requirements for each state. This is as recent as five or so years ago: in New South Wales, medical practitioners are required by law and there is a policy for school teachers, social workers and others; in Victoria, specifics of professional groups who notify are doctors, nurses and police, mandated; Queensland, medical practitioners and Education has a policy; Western Australia, there is no mandatory reporting; South Australia, medical practitioners, nurses, dentists, psychologists, police, probation officers, social workers, teachers, family day care providers, employees of or volunteers in government departments, agencies and local government that provide health, welfare, education, child care or residential services; Tasmania, the following professionals - medical practitioners, registered nurses, probation officers, child welfare workers, school principals, kindergarten teachers, and welfare workers; and the ACT - doctors, dentists, nurses, police officers, teachers, school councils, public servants working in child welfare, licensed child care providers.
In the Northern Territory, it has mandatory for any person since 1983. Before you start saying there was a shocking history of neglect, be aware that brave moves were made. There was publicly available data published throughout Australia. We inevitably came out on that data fairly high. We continued to take that policy line because we believed it was in the best interests of the child. That is what we are talking about: what is in the best interests of the child?
This report is 1998-99. The Community Care Information System was being introduced about that time so that the data could be collected on types, reporting and substantiation rates and, of course, other data including age, Aboriginality, etcetera. So, it was in place here.
Another thing that was in place was 24-hour call out. In Katherine, where there are two or three welfare workers, that was a pretty hard thing. Someone was on call for a whole week, and then their colleague was on call for the next whole week. The minister said: ‘We came into government, and you know what? We had to introduce 24-hour call-out’. I know there was 24-hour call-out and it existed in 1984 in Katherine, Tennant Creek and Gove. There are welfare workers out there who hear this statement and the years-of-neglect argument, and they know they were on-call. They know they went into dangerous and troublesome situations. They know that in small towns like Katherine and Tennant Creek, they knew the perpetrators and the family and others. They knew that, often, they had to ring the police and go to these places. Please do not reinvent this; it is something that has been around for a while.
There should be no sense of shame about what took place in the Northern Territory in terms of government’s reaction to this incredible problem. Neither should we be complacent about changing it nor have any sense that ‘we have cracked the code; we have worked out how it is; it is all fixed up from here’ just because some things are changing. We tried to tell the government this when they went looking at issues relating to drugs very early in their career as a government. I recall that my contribution was to say that they should look at marijuana and at Aboriginal communities; they should put them both on the list and that they would see that there is a growing problem in Aboriginal communities relating to mass media.
A long time ago, if you lived at Lajamanu, you knew what was going on at Lajamanu and not many other places and, if you wanted to ring up, you used the radio telephone. Now, people are inundated with information, and that is a good thing and a bad thing. The bad thing about it is that there are a significant number of inappropriate videos going to those communities and there is significant enhanced access to a lot of other inappropriate material. There are many drugs of abuse going into those communities that previously did not because of their remoteness. Things are changing, and they are changing quickly. Some of those things, as said in my opening quote, will have an impact on communities, grog being the biggest. Grog is the biggest contributor to child abuse. Gambling is right up there. The minister mentioned that in her statement, and I am glad she did.
I recall being with minister Reed in the Tennant Creek Hospital talking to the board and there was a significant argument between health and welfare practitioners about what constituted child abuse, particularly neglect, so it is a vexed issue that has been around that long. An Aboriginal health worker piped up and said the issue is gambling. The issue with gambling is 15 people pool their money in a game, one walks a winner and 14 walked away losers. The one who is the winner turns it into something that cannot sustain the other 14, like a bike or ghetto blaster or something, with pride in their winnings, and the other 14 go hungry.
This is a big issue for this parliament. When we talked about gambling before, it was seen as a tax and Treasury-type issue. This is an issue of society’s construct. Let us talk about gambling, grog, and feeding program in schools. If you are going to feed kids in schools, you have to know why you are doing it. You have to know why you are giving food as succour to a hungry child. There are calls for teaching people to fish instead of giving them a fish and they will live forever. That has come from the government side. The government should re-read its Supporting Families policy from the last election. They should look at some of their guiding principles:
I agree with that. That is pretty much our policy, too.
If you make a policy that says ‘we have chosen to intervene in this community, this society, this family, this individual, we are going to intervene, as the government, in your life’ and you come to this place and we make a law to enable us to do it, you have to understand the fundamentals of it. You have to know why you are doing it. If we are feeding hungry children, we have to know why we are doing it. If it is merely to sustain them, there is a significant issue about their parents’ capability to do it because they either cannot or will not feed their children. If it is an enticement to go to school, that is probably a good, albeit short-term, solution to it. If it is a kneejerk reaction to the fact that there are lot of hungry kids out there, there are other ways to doing it.
I recall the policy being a little bit critical of single mums. My daughter is a single mum and I think many single mums do a pretty good job, her in particular. I know many single parents. I quote from the Labor policy again:
That is true, but if you look at the statistics the minister has given us, in single parent female families, 40% of child abuse statistics derived from these families, closely followed by two-parent families, which is what? Thirty-nine per cent. We need to be very careful about saying we need an Aboriginal policy, single parent policy, low socio-economic group policy, women from a non-English speaking background policy. Be aware that child abuse is randomly distributed through society. Millionaires abuse their kids. People who are politicians abuse their kids. People who are dentists and doctors and lawyers abuse their kids.
This is not a situation where we can politely sit back and say: ‘All those nasty people abuse their kids’. Sometimes, the children in those communities find themselves in parlous circumstances because of their environment. Their parent might have every bit of goodwill in the world but be incapable of knowing how to or having the capability of sustaining and feeding and clothing those kids.
In today’s Australia, it has to be pretty rare that someone does not have that wherewithal. The issue is whether it is a priority for them, and whether it is a helpful thing for government to say: ‘You don’t need to spend that $50 a week because we will do if for you; we will feed your kid’, or ‘Here is the clothes program’, or whatever. The prognosis for such a program is not good, and it is not good for kids. As an immediate interim measure, the wellbeing of the child is paramount. If they are starving, feed them. However, as a generic program across racial groups, it is not that smart.
On the matter of politics and spin, I remember going to a ministerial council when Denis Burke first became health minister and we went to Hobart. There were about five items relating to child abuse on the agenda. They had all been listed by New South Wales. We were quite interested to have the debate. A strong debate was raging at that stage out of Western Australia, which did not want mandatory universal reporting. The Commonwealth was seeking to find a position for itself on what is essentially a state matter and looking for national programs that would have state support. Just before we got to debate all the New South Wales material, it turned out that the secretary of the department, much to the embarrassment of the minister, Dr Refshauge, admitted that it was all a big ruse; they were all hollow policies that were not supported in the department or in any other way. That all fell off the paper. This is a matter for history.
Mr KIELY: A point of order, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker. I do not believe you are allowed to refer to another member of parliament in such a way.
Mr DUNHAM: What way?
Mr Kiely: You just said he said it was a ruse.
Mr DUNHAM: No, no. The CEO said it, and the minister pulled them all off the paper. The minister did the right thing, so I am not attributing nefarious motives to him. What I am trying to say is that …
Mr Kiely: What you say!
Mr DUNHAM: Hey?
Mr Kiely: What you say.
Mr DUNHAM: Okay. It is a matter for history. What I am trying to say is that if you are like the minister and you stand up and - may I have an extension?
Ms CARTER: Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I move an extension of time in order that my colleague may conclude his remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Mr DUNHAM: I shall be quick. I do not think the minister can say: ‘I am brave. I have raised the issue of child abuse and I have said “Some Aboriginal people have to step up to the plate”.’ That is not an issue of bravery; it is an issue of raising it for debate. We have to have the bravery to say to the minister: ‘That is not smart; it does not work’, because we have to be frank in this debate.
The minister for police talked about my colleague, the member for Araluen, being patronising and paternalistic. ‘Patronising’ and ‘paternalistic’ are derived from the same Latin word pater meaning father. There is a place for paternalism in welfare programs. Why else would you have them? Why would you have them if you did not have the sense of a caring, nurturing person in a senior, capable role helping someone who is less capable? The breakfast program is paternalistic; straight-up paternalistic. It may be a good program. All I am saying is be careful throwing words like that around when, essentially, what they mean is: ‘We are trying to help and we are trying to care’.
When the minister for police said that we have insulted everyone in the agency because we said this or that, that is exactly my point about your little excursion into history when you said it has been neglected for so long. He then told us how you can tell the bona fides of the government because they bought a police plane! ‘We bought a police plane, we have more prison guards and there is a police station at Kintore. Therefore, we are helping out in a big way’. I despair! It demonstrates a massive misunderstanding of child abuse. The whole focus in this area is preventative. Its whole focus is educative, preventative and helping and caring and nurturing. When the policemen kick down the door with the jack boots and when the bloke goes to the gaol, you have missed the mark. That is an indicator of failure, not of success. Do not say it is an holistic approach across government and we now have a police plane that can fly in and jump on these perpetrators of child abuse.
I point out, too, in relation to the bill on the Table to protect children giving evidence, vulnerable witness evidence reforms were made by the CLP government many years ago. I point out also that my colleague, the member for Daly, as a minister, did significant work with the Stolen Generation group, not just by addressing issues of family reunification, family contact and getting data and information to people, but moving forward and saying: ‘What we need is more foster carers. What we need is more grandmas. What we need is strong women, strong babies, strong culture. What we need is programs of this type’. We did it. It was not theoretical; it was pragmatic and it yielded results.
This government, being the only one that does not share the odium of the Stolen Generation because of the youth of this parliament, nonetheless, did the most, I suggest, of any jurisdiction. A significant issue with the Stolen Generation is the government taking children into care because they believed they were at risk. That is happening today. There are significant numbers of Aboriginal children being taken into care because they are potentially at risk and they are not being cared for by Aboriginal carers. This is something that should not be silent in the speech. The minister knows that because she was questioned in Estimates about it. A big thing you can do is a recruitment drive for Aboriginal carers for those children who find themselves in situations where they have to be removed from their family - today.
The education programs that were put in place by the previous government were very good. The Strong Women, Strong Babies, Strong Culture I have talked about; it was very good. Some of the work we did with Aboriginal groups was very good. One of the biggest problems the Territory has faced in terms of a government department or withdrawal in recent years has been ATSIC’s decision to de-fund women’s centres. They had a big social impact on communities. It has taken a long time to redress issues not just relating to mothercraft, craft, art, social programs, CDEP, nutrition programs, meals on wheels and all the rest of it, but it took a long time to redress that. I believe it is to ATSIC’s everlasting shame that they chose to cut those programs in a demonstration that the cuts from the government would be harshly felt, and they were.
‘No child will be living in poverty …’ is a very famous quote from a very famous Labor politician, but there is no doubt that matters relating to unemployment and poverty have a big impact on children being at risk.
The government should go back to its position paper and consider about some of its promises, like growth in Territory jobs and income. That has not happened. If you really want to talk about holistic stuff, let us march out of here, and let us hear from your education minister and some of the others. Please do not hide behind tangible kit and equipment like aeroplanes, police stations and prison guards to tell us that you are addressing child abuse because that is back end and this is entirely front end.
I will leave it there. However, like other speakers before me, I would be very surprised if 25 people in this House do not support any initiative to reduce child abuse and do not take a very serious view of it notwithstanding some of the chortling that took place a bit earlier from one of the members. The bona fides of this House will be whether we can debate this in a frank way instead of the back patting and the ‘I think you are a very good person, minister, with great bona fides’. It has to be focussed on the programs, the policies and how we go about it, not on any personal characteristic of the minister.
Ms LAWRIE (Karama): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the Minister for Family and Community Services for making what I see as a clarion call with her statement today, that we are all here to bear the responsibility of protecting our children. The minister reiterated the commitment of the Martin government to undertake fundamental reforms of the child protection services sector, and to enhance our working partnerships with families, children and, importantly, service providers.
There is no doubt the statistics in her statement are an indictment. For too long, our community, through the failure of leadership from previous governments, has let down children in need. I have spoken in this Chamber before of the shock I felt when returning to Darwin in the mid-1990s. I witnessed people ignoring a child foraging through a bin searching for food in a local shopping centre. Shoppers in our suburbs just walked by. I could not walk by; I could not ignore the hunger, and took the child to a food outlet and fed them and their younger siblings. The children looked at me wide-eyed, a stranger reaching out to help them without fanfare. They felt safe enough to accept the food and drink from me because I had a babe in arms and was pregnant.
I promised myself then I would not turn my back on a single Territorian child in need that I came across. It is a promise I have managed to keep. I am now far more able to help through my position in government and my role as a local member. Since my election, I have worked with local families to address cycles of abuse and neglect, most effectively through encouraging neighbours to report suspected abuse or neglect directly to FACS. Any case brought to my attention has been reported. I have held countless discussions with leaders in our community of Karama and Malak about our responsibility to reach out to children in need.
I am proud to say that our schools are doing a terrific job of working with supporting families to address the needs of disadvantaged children. It is a collaborative of effort. Each school has its own method, but all are innovative in their actions to address the needs of children.
Karama School has benefited from a government initiative to strengthen families with funding of $140 000. The school council is working with FACS to implement an innovative program targeting young mothers. Manunda Terrace School has received additional funding from DEET to work with children from remote communities living in Darwin. These children are based at the Christian Outreach Centre or Knuckeys Lagoon, where new accommodation is now available thanks to the Harmony Project. Previously, many of these kids were living in the long grass. So, yes, it is a whole-of-government approach that we are taking to protect our children and, yes, there are preventative measures in place, measures that were not there previously.
Both Karama and Manunda Terrace schools have breakfast programs in place that are feeding some 30 to 40 children each morning. I acknowledge the work done by Red Cross and its volunteers to run these programs. I thank the staff and parents who have embraced these breakfast programs and volunteered their time every morning to ensure that children are fed. I am perplexed by the member for Drysdale’s refusal to accept that breakfast programs have a role in our community. He still fights against the reality that breakfast programs are working and providing a meaningful improvement to children’s lives.
Malak Primary School, too, is being innovative, working closely with local youth organisations such as the YWCA to address recreation needs at recess and lunch, to encourage healthy attitudes and behaviour with children who have struggled against the odds. I say ‘struggled against the odds’ because some of these primary-aged children are out on the streets at night, often as late as 1 am midweek, wandering around because home is not a good place to be.
Malak and Karama are benefiting from another initiative of the Martin government, with Wellbeing teachers being placed in the schools to work with teachers, staff, parents and students to assist needy children. These Wellbeing teachers are additional teachers placed in the schools at Karama and Malak. I have meet with both Wellbeing staff, and heard school council discussions about how they can work with them to address the needs of these children who, far too often, have been falling through the cracks of service provision.
I have worked with Youth Beat, another Martin government initiative identified in the minister’s statement, to work with these children and create links with FACS, the juvenile justice diversionary program, YWCA and local schools to address the needs of these kids; to pick them up and try to get them off the streets and try to sort out the complex issues behind the reason why they are out on the streets at night.
Yes, we have a longer path to travel in dealing with these complex issues of family dysfunction, gambling, alcoholism, violence and substance abuse. However, importantly, this government is having a go. No stone is being left unturned in creating collaborative partnerships between government agencies and NGOs, parents and workers in the community to effectively case manage these children and their families.
For some parents in my electorate, the heat has proven too much. Children have been sent interstate or elsewhere in the Territory by them to stay with relatives while the parent has tried to improve their act here to get the authorities off their back. To me, it is evidence that we are starting to make inroads into an area of neglect.
I have been touching on some of the actions in place by the government of which, as a local member, I am aware and which, at a local level, am able to assist in facilitating. This is in stark contrast to the arrogant and ignorant diatribe contained in the member for Araluen’s speech on this statement. I should not be surprised at the shallowness of the opposition and the bitter and twisted view they bring to issues. The shocking neglect of the CLP reign that I believe is complicit in the harm so many Territory children have endured is to their eternal shame, not a shame that we are prepared to share. We will not stand idly by while children suffer.
Why did the CLP leave the essential department of Family and Children’s Services languishing without any staff increases for a decade? The member for Araluen had to quote one staff recruitment from 20 years ago in the Paul Everingham era. That is an absolute disgrace. In stark contrast, the Labor government has increased the Child Protection Services budget by 155%. I challenge to CLP to search for any period in its 27 years of government that it has increased child protection by 155%. This increase shows that we are up from $7.8m in 2001-02 to more than $20m in 2004-05.
In December last year, we announced an unprecedented injection of $53m over the next five years. This equates to at least a 10% increase in program funding for those five years. Importantly, this funding increase has enabled the employment of 32 new operational staff since January this year, with four locals employed with interstate child protection experience. It includes two cadetships and two Aboriginal traineeships. Other important funding initiatives are an 8% increase to foster carers’ payments. This will improve our ability to recruit foster carers who play a critical role in providing care for children who are the victims of abuse or neglect. I welcome the minister’s statement, which details improved assessment of foster care placements.
In his ignorance, the dinosaur from Drysdale calls for us to actively recruit indigenous foster carers. We have been doing that for a couple of years now in collaboration with indigenous foster care organisations throughout the Territory. I am fully aware of the work and assistance we have given to KARU in the Top End to do just that. He showed his absolute ignorance of what is occurring in the sector. In addition, new funding has been provided to important NGOs including the Foster Carers Association, CREATE and NAPCAN; critical players in the protection of children.
I applaud the funding injection outlined in this statement for the raising of awareness in communities and to identify community-based responses and family support programs. Territory-wide child abuse and prevention awareness and education programs are fundamentally important, and I congratulate the minister and her department for their initiatives in this area. All of these funding initiatives are, again I say, in stark contrast to the starvation of funding and support for child protection, government workers and NGOs from the CLP over the past 20 years.
I thank Territorians who have worked tirelessly in the area of child protection. As the minister recognises, they perform an extraordinarily hard job in highly distressing circumstances that would test the mettle of anyone. I acknowledge the work done by FACS staff and NGOs to work through a mountain of need with too few resources. I thank the member for Nightcliff, who took up the mantle, while minister, to seek the resources and funding from this government that were needed to tackle an outrageous need.
The member for Arafura is bringing her own knowledge and insight to the portfolio and her statement is clear shouldering of the responsibility to do the hard work that remains ahead of us, to turn around the state of neglect so starkly identified in numerous independent studies and identified in her ministerial statement.
I thank our Cabinet and our minister for Justice who has introduced judicial reforms that are needed to work hand in hand with the sector’s raft of reforms to prevent and indeed punish instances of child abuse and neglect.
I commit to continuing to work with our ministers and my community to address the needs of children. We know children need love, encouragement, a safe home, access to education and health care among other needs. We know families need support to care for their children.
The simplistic views expressed by some members opposite shows their absolute ignorance of the difficulties of parenting. The member for Araluen’s hysterical and patronising diatribe shows how far out of touch she is from the reality of families. How many parents can truly say they have never felt despair and an inability to cope, those moments when they know they cannot go on without support?
This statement is not about blame. We are not about saying parents are wrong or evil and we will punish them. It is a statement that shows where the system needs reform, where our community needs to stand up and be counted, where children need greater care and assistance, where families need support, where we can, as a government, provide services in a far stronger and more collaborative framework of policies and provide the resources to deliver essential programs.
The statement spells out that we are committing the resources: funding, legislative reforms, extra operational staff and programs to support families, which, we believe, is the most appropriate and sensible way of supporting children. We are not pretending we can deliver all the assistance needed just through the government reforms and funding outlined in this statement. We are, clearly, willing to work with the community.
The Breathing Space program run through Darwin Family Day Care is an example of this government working with an NGO. It is appropriate for us to do so. Funding for Breathing Space, brokered through Darwin Family Day Care, provides necessary respite for families under strain. I know of families in Karama and Malak who are benefiting from this respite program, and I have seen it make the real difference between breaking down and coping. Breathing Space is fantastic, and I wholeheartedly support the minister’s work to ensure it is funded to meet this outstanding need.
Another terrific initiative launched by the minister is Parent Line, which is available for any family, any time, any day. It is a 24-hour phone line that has qualified counsellors to assist families with parenting needs. I have worked to distribute information about Parent Line through schools, my electorate newsletter and I have the terrific posters and brochures on display in my office. It is a wonderful service that provides access to the Positive Parenting Program for Territorians. I congratulate departmental staff for working hard to establish Parent Line in keeping with our government’s priorities and funding for the service.
I encourage members to make use of the Families web site. There are great ‘tip sheets’ that provide tips for parents, and this is just another innovative tool for supporting families.
I congratulate the minister for establishing a Family and Community Services Advisory Council and I congratulate Charlie King on his appointment as its chair. It is important for any government to establish pathways for independent advice. I have no doubt that the expertise on this advisory council will ensure that the minister continues to be well informed of issues and strategies and the resources required to protect children and to support Territory families.
Picking up on the ‘spin’ comments from the member for Drysdale, this government values our single parents, both men and women in our community who are working hard to raise their children on their own. We recognise that they are, in fact, families that have great needs. They need support such as respite, child care, parenting advice, which applies equally to single parents as it does to dual parent families. The dinosaur from Drysdale continues to spin his bitter bile while our government acts to support families, all families, regardless of race, religion or cultural difference.
This statement is a brave statement. It is not easy for a government to lay bare what affects the soul of a place like the Territory: the condition of our children and our families. It is very brave for a minister to open up and describe what we see as the picture of child protection in the Territory. She has shown us that it is not a pretty picture; she has shown us that she, as minister, is committed to the responsibilities she has to take the portfolio area forward, to drill through the reforms necessary in both the department and the sector as a whole, to make real changes to improving the lives of the Territory’s children and, indeed, the Territory’s families.
I congratulate the minister. It is a clarion call for all of us to accept the responsibilities we have as legislators and leaders in our community to ensure that we do whatever we can to support children and families.
In my community of Karama and Malak, I have been proud of the work being done at the local level. I congratulate people in the school communities, people working in Youth Beat, at the YWCA and Darwin Family Day care based at Malak. There really is a whole-of-community attempt to address what we see as an unacceptably high level of need for children. It is great to see that the funding is there to back up the community’s desire to do something about assisting our families, and particularly assisting children.
The children, I say, are the innocents. It is not their choice to live in squalor. It is not their choice to live in scenarios of neglect or abuse. It is simplistic for people to say: ‘That family is a problem, therefore evict them from that particular place of housing’, as I know members opposite would have us do. In all of those scenarios, I think of the children. Rather than having a simplistic eviction where you are turfing a family out of public housing because they do not have the coping ability to live properly and appropriately in the community, I look at what NGOs exist to work with families. That has been a useful and effective way of ensuring that children are not made homeless, while neighbours do not have to put up with distressing incidences of neglect of children.
We are not perfect. Some of us cope better than others. Some of us have the skills and ability to cope better than others. For some people, life throws issues that make them repeat behaviour that, as a society, we find abhorrent. How many studies show us that many of the perpetrators of child abuse are, in fact, the victims of child abuse?
This government is not shying away from the hard, ugly and nasty task of trying to turn the tide on the shocking statistics that are our Territory shame, that is, the state of neglect so ably spelt out in child neglect studies such as SNAICC.
I encourage the minister in her efforts. I encourage the government not to be lax, but to continue to improve and enhance programs that we have put in place, to search for new programs, to search for any innovative ways that we can, as a community, as a whole, tackle this enormous need. Each of us are mature enough to understand there will always be need. We are about addressing that need in a complex and innovative fashion so that we recognise one size does not fit all. Each community has its own differences. Each community has a different level of support and services. It is so good to see, in this statement, that we are reaching out to all parts of the Territory.
I know we have benefited from that in Karama; an identified area of need was addressed by the $140 000 injection of funding. Young mothers in the area will benefit from that. I commit to working with the Karama school community to ensure that that program is successful and well frequented. I congratulate the school for picking up the offer of that program. I look forward to hearing a report from the minister about our success in ensuring that we are strengthening Territory families and that children in need are starting to have those needs addressed.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I commend the statement and I commend the minister for her work.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I contribute to the Minister for Family and Children Services’ ministerial statement for a number of reasons. I go to a quote from her statement:
That is why I rise tonight: youth is vital to the future of the Territory and there are many issues, as we have already heard tonight, being discussed about the services delivered in the protection of young Territorians and in particular minimising neglect and child abuse.
We have the right person for the job, and the reason is that her work experience and reputation within the field of health probably makes her more qualified than any person who has ever held a health portfolio in the Northern Territory, and I do not think that is over-exaggerating her qualifications.
Often, we come into this House with professional backgrounds, some of us with degrees, and some of us with many years of work experience. It is not often that you have carriage of a portfolio in which you have a vast amount of knowledge and, specifically, a knowledge of what happens in both remote and urban areas. I quote again from the statement:
It is important that the minister has the background, knowledge and experience to contribute and formulate such a statement, and a plan of attack for how we are going to minimise neglect and abuse.
I often talk about minimisation in respect of many of these issues because the reality is that neglect and abuse of children has been around for thousands of years. It is something that the civilised world does not accept. No one in this House and no Territorian should accept the fact that children are, unfortunately, abused or neglected. I am interested in minimising the number of children who face such treatment. The minister, in the statement, recognised the reality that all families, irrespective of background, culture, religion, or race, face throughout the Northern Territory and Australia. She said:
This statement addresses the problems of remote areas. I argue that both urban and remote areas have, in the past, unfortunately, been under-funded. How do I conclude that? We have heard much rhetoric tonight about this not being the case, but when a government comes to power and increases the Child Protection Services budget by 155% - up from $7.8m in 2001-02 to over $20m in 2004-05 – that demonstrates commitment. That commitment is not rhetoric; it is real. It is about resourcing.
My belief is that, often, there is too much policy and academic reporting when, sometimes, you have to see people on the ground. I will touch on that. We heard the members for Araluen and Drysdale say that there is no substance in this statement. How can they lie straight in bed, after reading the statement and seeing that people are going to be employed in the sector and the qualifications of those people?
This statement not only addresses the need to properly resource this area and to employ people to deal with child abuse and neglect; it also gives statistics. It does not hide the facts. Any government could run away and hide from the fact that reporting of neglect and abuse has increased. The minister has clearly outlined the statistics so that everyone from industry professionals to lay people can understand: there is an increase and we do not shy away from it. In fact, we welcome that people are now reporting these matters. These are very serious matters, and I commend the minister for including that in the statement.
This statement goes onto the Parliamentary Record forever and a day. There is no shying away from the facts, which are that we have serious issues in relation to neglect and abuse in the Northern Territory.
The statement also gives detail of the process of how the minister, through her experience and her department working with people who are already employed and who will soon be employed and with stakeholders on how to come up with a process to minimise neglect and abuse in both remote and urban settings in the Northern Territory. That should be commended.
The minister related the reality that child abuse and neglect is a problem that is not unique to the Territory. It is a problem in all nations and most societies. This is sad, but it is a part of human relations.
The minister eloquently outlined that there are many causes, which include drug and alcohol abuse. We know that drugs and alcohol are having a detrimental effect on both remote and urban areas, on young children, on adults and on families. Drug and alcohol abuse needs a strategy. The police minister spoke tonight about the efforts the police are making in relation to domestic violence to minimise the effects on communities. The Kintore example was fantastic.
I have indigenous communities in my electorate and one of the main things going on there is the need to properly resource community leaders so they have an effect in enforcing by-laws, rules and regulations that they want on their community. We do not ask the aldermen of the Darwin City Council to enforce by-laws of the Darwin City Council. They use structures that everyone in mainstream society uses, and they include police. Whether you are in an urban or remote area, you should be able to call on the police to perform their duty. That is the right of every person in the Territory as Australian citizens.
Mental illness is a major problem, as is homelessness. The Minister for Local Government talked about the homelessness, the $850m needed to fix public housing in the Northern Territory and the reality that we only have $2.7bn in the budget. One-third of our budget is required to fix housing. This is on top of dealing with health, child abuse and neglect, policing, education, all the issues that are the responsibility of government.
I pick up on the bipartisan support that we will need to deal with this issue: there is juvenile crime, neglect and substance abuse. In Millner, juvenile crime is an issue, unfortunately. People are struggling with the fact that kids have been neglected, whether it is low attendance at school, food or housing. There is a link and we need to deal with that link.
Adult criminal behaviour and incarceration are related to child abuse and neglect from young children to young adults:
Again, I look at the investment that the NT government has made into child protection as one that will have a return. The return will be creating better families, having an effect on criminal behaviour, having an effect on mental illness, homelessness, juvenile crime and reducing the impact of drug and alcohol abuse. That is why we are investing.
I do not have a professional background in health. As a lay person, there were a number of key messages from the statement, the first being that child protection has been an issue of concern for many years. This cannot be denied. The members for Araluen and Drysdale were very annoyed, and I suppose it hit a nerve with them, a soft under-belly, but the minister argued that this is because of past governments’ under-resourcing the sector.
Another key message was that this is an issue of importance for all Territorians, and a bipartisan approach to this matter will help solve many of these problems because the reality is that, yes, we have increased the budget by 155%, $20m is a great start, but will it be enough?
We are going to have to go to the Commonwealth and if we do this as a parliament, all 25 members, and say: ‘What is happening in urban and remote areas of the Northern Territory is a national disgrace and we need to be properly resourced and funded to deal with these matters’. I return to the reality that the NT government plays an important role in delivery of services, but it is not capable of dealing with all the major issues that come before it. We need to draw on the support of the Commonwealth. If we do this as a parliament, we will have a greater impact on resourcing the Territory.
The minister recognised that there have been a number of reports. Child abuse has been the subject of studies over many years. In particular, SNAICC, Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, which released an extensive report on neglect and abuse of indigenous children in the Northern Territory two years ago.
The minister also mentioned that the Bansemer Review picked up many things in the Department of Health and Community Services, and the independent review included looking at the area of Family and Community Services. The minister mentioned that those recommendations have been incorporated into Building Healthier Communities and are, right now, being implemented. This is recognition of the need for independent voices and the positive contribution they can make, even though the information they provide on the status of child abuse and neglect is very sad. It is important that government’s performance is monitored by independent review and advice.
The minister insists on continuing to receive independent, informed advice. The minister has appointed a Family and Community Services Advisory Council and was pleased to announce the appointment of Charlie King as the chair of that council. All members would no doubt welcome that appointment. Charlie King is a former Territorian of the Year and is well respected by all members. I hope that he continues to be vocal and works hard to support the government in finding better ways to minimise neglect and child abuse in the Northern Territory.
We heard from the opposition, sadly, particularly the members for Araluen and Drysdale, that there is nothing of substance in this statement. The initiatives of the Martin Labor government include to $53m extra over the next five years, 19 new qualified staff employed since January 2004, 10 new positions in 2004-05, a review and complete overhaul of the Community Welfare Act, and establishing an independent Family and Community Services Advisory Council.
From these independent reports, the message is that we need to act now. We cannot wait for another review. We have to implement strategies and processes that attack and deal with problems of neglect and abuse of children.
As a result of the work the minister has been doing, the constant talk, the media coverage, the work that members who hold bush seats have been doing in their electorates, as have members holding urban seats, there has been a significant increase in notification of child abuse, particularly indigenous child abuse, which has increased by 43% in the last year, up from 855 to 1226, an increase of 371. The increase of non-indigenous notification was less than 4%, up from 699 to 723, which is an increase of 24 in individual complaints.
This highlights the fact that, for a number of reasons, indigenous people have not been willing or able to participate in the notification process. I know a couple of staff who have been visiting remote areas, and the higher level of awareness in both urban and remote areas has resulted in people feeling more comfortable in reporting the fact that there is ‘no-good business’ going on, either child abuse or neglect of children.
This reporting or notification should be encouraged because we need to know what the statistics are and the statistics that we gather from these notifications and their outcomes will help the minister, in the first instance, argue in Cabinet for further increases in child abuse and neglect funding. Hopefully, the statistics will then be used to argue with the Commonwealth that we need further increases for resources in this area.
The additional funding has done a number of specific things in addressing staff shortages. We often have comments that ministerial statements play politics without provide facts and figures. I am happy to say that there are facts and figures in the statement: 32 new operational staff appointments since January 2004; four locums have been employed with interstate child protection experience; two cadetships and two Aboriginal traineeships have been created.
The funding increase also covers an 8% increase in the foster carers’ payment. A number of foster carers have been donating their time and their resources for many years, and they need our assistance to continue the good work that they do. An 8% increase might seem a large amount, but I would more than lend my support to the minister to secure further increases, although 8% is a good start.
The new package will increase funding to NGOs, including the Foster Carers Association, CREATE and NAPCAN; allow work with Aboriginal communities to raise awareness of child protection and develop community-based sponsors and family support programs; and provide Territory-wide child abuse and prevention awareness and education programs. It is vital that in both remote and urban areas, we strategically target awareness programs that will prevent child abuse and neglect, and they have to be specific to their audience.
I have spoken about this in the past: one of the most effective marketing schemes is that of the NBA, which sells basketball jumpers not only to the Chinese, but to South Americans, Africans, Europeans and to the Middle East. They have been able to sell a uniform with Shaquille O’Neal or whoever is on that uniform, to people in remote areas. You can go to these remote areas and young people are wearing these items of clothing. We need to learn how to use this type of marketing and awareness in our educational programs to increase the awareness of child abuse and neglect in remote and urban areas.
I cannot let the comments of the member for Araluen go unchallenged. She was very disappointing and critical. She offered no solution to the fact that there was a lack of analysis. It was negative, whingeing and, as I said, offered no solutions. Really, it was a ridiculous contribution.
It was great that mandatory reporting legislation was passed, but, like the example we have been using with the under-funding of police, at the end of the day, you must have police officers on the beat to catch criminals. Similarly, we have to have child care protection workers in remote and urban areas minimising child abuse and the neglect of children. This is what this massive increase of funding, 155% will do - which is probably the largest increase in any department since we have been in government. It is a wonderful achievement of this government …
Mr McADAM: Madam Speaker, I move an extension of time for the member for Millner.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: Two minutes.
Mr BONSON: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Why has there been an increase in staffing? The contributions from the members for Araluen and Drysdale about living conditions in remote areas were shameful. There are many reasons why living conditions are not acceptable in a first-world country. The majority of those reasons have nothing to do with individuals, but that is the misunderstanding of these members, unfortunately. The reason we have been successful in securing resources is members who have remote areas in their electorates, including the minister, have been pushing the resources issue.
We often talk about the Berrimah line. We have four members of Cabinet who represent remote areas outside of Darwin. It has never been done in the history of Cabinet in the Northern Territory, and that cannot be understated.
The member for Araluen talked about having files and files on issues of criminology, offending, child abuse and protection. I also know of these issues in relation to Australia and New Zealand, the USA and Canada. Her argument that, somehow, increasing penalties are going to be detrimental to the war on child abuse and neglect, is amazing and sad. You cannot even describe it as being laughable. To say that you cannot sentence a mongrel who wants to sexually abuse a child to longer sentences because of some criminological argument that this will lead them to committing further or more serious crimes does not stand any test of decency.
As the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services said, take that out to the northern suburbs or these remote areas where there is child abuse, and argue that sexual offenders should be given a less severe sentence. You will not last very long. He challenged the member to include it in her electorate newsletter and see what type of response she has.
The sad thing is that academic research shows that in Canada, the USA, the UK, Europe and Australia, child sex offenders are, 99% of the time, repeat offenders. That is a sad reality, but that is the way it is. We need to get to tough on sexual offenders. Locking them up will minimise their effect on the wider community.
I pick up on the Minister for Justice’s efforts in Corrections with proper resourcing. We need to properly resource Corrections because we have to try to educate the sexual offenders to minimise the damage they cause in the wider community.
Our approach to this should be united and bipartisan. We should go to the Commonwealth and ask for more resources, outline that there are conditions in the Northern Territory that should not be acceptable to Australian citizens. It has nothing to do with race. Forget the race issue; that is not what it is about. It is about Australian citizens who, unfortunately, for many years for a lot of different reasons, being under-resourced and not properly looked after. If we approached the Commonwealth as a parliament, we would have success on the national stage to achieve dealing with solutions and processes that will properly fund communities, families and government to deal with this national disgrace.
Before I wind up, the member for Drysdale made comments in relation to the Stolen Generation. This is the ignorance of the individual. The Stolen Generation was an issue of children being removed because of race. What we are talking about is children being removed from their families because of neglect and abuse. To this day, this individual cannot understand what the Stolen Generation issue was about. People were not being removed because they were suffering neglect or abuse but because of their race, and until this individual can understand that, he will never be able to progress on these matters.
Madam Speaker, in summary, you have small victories in government. This is one of the small victories, although it is a double-edged sword: it is sad that we need to fight for extra resources because we have this issue of child abuse and neglect. What makes me proud is that we said we will take this on; we are going to try to do something about this. If we can make one person’s life better as a result of this minister’s contribution and ministers before her, then we have done a fantastic job as a government, and we are representing the community as best we can in both remote and urban areas. I look forward to working with this group for many more years.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, first, I congratulate the minister on her statement. This must be one of the most important statements made in this House because it deals with the future, welfare and protection of our kids. If we can do something to bring about change in this area, it will probably be more important than many of the other issues that we deal with in this parliament. I am not an expert on many of the matters raised in the statement, but I would like to say a few words on issues that have been brought to my attention.
The member for Millner spoke about the $20m increase in funding for Child Protection Services, and a $53m increase in funding over the next three years, and I note that in light of the increased workload on staff. Naturally, if there is an increase in reporting and those matters are investigated by staff, there must be more staff to cope with the increased workload.
Then there has to be adequate office space in which the staff can work so that matters that are very sensitive can be dealt with in an appropriate manner. If staff are not happy about their work place, one cannot expect good outcomes in a job for which good outcomes are surely the goal. If staff are stressed, that will rub off on the people they deal with and that is not a good outcome. I make those observations, as I said, in light of the fact that there is $20m extra in the budget. I have to ask: if that is the case, why haven’t some of these issues been overcome?
The minister knows I have mentioned the issue of a poor working environment at Palmerston. I am interested to know whether any of that $20m is being invested into making the workplace a much better workplace for those people who have a very difficult job. I saw the minister on the news tonight saying how difficult it is to attract people into this field of work. If the work environment is not good, it will be harder to attract people.
Minister, I note that you have spoken from a government perspective, but I would be interested to hear more about your government’s relationship with non-government organisations working in similar fields. Many of the issues on which you touched relate to families and children, and there are other organisations that have expertise in the same area. My understanding is that there are people at Anglicare, CentreCare, Somerville and Amity all have a role to play in dealing with child abuse issues. It is important to see how they interact with government agencies.
You also touched on an issue of which I have recently become aware, and that relates to the retention of files when a person or persons have been cleared of a matter that has arisen from a notification. On my reading of your statement, it appears that 25% of notifications are substantiated, meaning that 75% are not. Whilst I am not saying that all cases of possible child abuse should not be reported, I wonder whether cases of notification that are not proved should remain on file. I realise that this is a difficult issue, but I can understand that people who have done nothing wrong may feel that they still have blot on their record.
The issue of neglect is another important issue. The minister mentioned gambling and its effects: children going hungry not only because there is no money, but they are not being cared for whilst a parent or parents gamble. It is not only cards; look at the number of people playing the pokies in the middle of the day. Sadly, many of those people are indigenous. What about the parents down at the club leaving no one to look after their children? What should happen when kids turn up for school hungry and tired because no one is home, there is no food in the house and they have been watching videos all night?
Then there is petrol sniffing. What do we do with young people affected by alcohol? Do they fit into neglect or child abuse? Should they be taken away from their family, who may have given up on them? Do we live within the shadow of the Stolen Generation, or do we do what may be best for a child? Who would look after them?
I ask those questions with caution because I recall a meeting of the Substance Abuse committee in Alice Springs last year. The minister chaired that meeting, and I recall some of the comments when we spoke about the possibility of removing people from communities who were continually affected by alcohol. There were reactions, one of which was that it was another Stolen Generation. It is a sensitive issue, but we have to put it squarely on the table and say that we have to do what is best for the child and not be concerned by criticisms that, in some cases, are political and in some cases are well meaning.
The minister said that we can help reduce child abuse and neglect by building economically and socially sustainable communities. That is a huge question to which I would have added ‘culturally and spiritually strong communities’. It is important to have employment and recreation, but if that means a society in which pleasure and consumerism are the only goals to make a strong community, nothing much will change. Respect for one another does not fall out of a tree; it has to be taught. If there is no belief in the importance of respect for others and that ‘I’ is the centre of everything, nothing will change. Discipline, especially self-discipline, is something that society seems to regard as outdated. The approach seems to be to find a solution after it has happened rather than gaining control earlier. If we get fat and our heart suffers; we should not have eaten so much in the first place. If we belt up someone and we go to gaol, we should have controlled our temper.
It is respect for ourselves and others that needs to be reinforced. If children are abused, will they not also abuse? It is that cycle, that sad, ongoing trail of abuse that needs to be broken. Respect for others, whether based on a humanist or religious premise, must be reinforced from an early age. We all have a role to play, not just the government.
Madam Speaker, the statement is a good one. It will raise an issue that has been taboo in the public arena for many years, but now we need to make it a shame job, and one that is punishable under the law. It is not only unfashionable, it is simply wrong. I welcome the minister raising this important matter today. Only time will tell if the statement is words or action because it contains a lot of words. They are good words, but we are dealing with an issue that is extremely important for the future of our Territory. If you look at the number of people that are listed as being subject to abuse, it is a fairly large percentage of our population, and if we do not do something to stop that, it will only continue. As I said, the cycle will continue.
It is a big job, and one that all parliamentarians should support so that a clear message is sent to our children and young people: they should not be subjected to any form of abuse.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Family and Community Services): Madam Speaker, I thank members for their contributions to the statement. A ministerial statement on the protection of Territory children will provoke many emotions. From my own point of view, it is an emotive area. Every time I am in my electorate, and it would be the same for all electorates, issues of child abuse or issues affecting our children confront every single one of us. I do not think that any of us are not confronted with it, and it is not just in the indigenous field. I did say that this is an issue for non-indigenous children, too. We all have responsibility in this area.
I thank the member for Port Darwin for her support as shadow minister, but also for her contribution to the statement because we have travelled around and had a bit of time to see some of these communities. I got to see a different person in the member for Port Darwin.
She mentioned how society changes and attitudes change. I agree. One of the points my statement makes is that attitudes need to change. That is something that is going to take time. The statement was not saying that there is going to be any sort of quick fix overnight, and that we are going to wave a magic wand and things are going to stop. It is long-term stuff. When we talk about attitudes, we are talking long-term. We have seen it in the health sector, and you have worked in the health sector, you certainly know that one the most difficult things to change is people’s attitudes.
She talked about parents being role models, and there is no doubt, responsible parenting is so important in protecting our children. As I said, as a parent of three, I know it takes a lot of responsibility, but it is also a privilege so it is important in terms of protecting children. She also talked about the role that teachers and nurses play in child protection, and they are worthy comments. Teachers and nurses spend a lot of time with children, and their role in protecting children and raising notifications of abuse is a critical aspect of our vigilance.
There is another group of workers that also play a key role, particularly when we look out in our remote Aboriginal communities, and that is the role of Aboriginal health workers. I have spoken about that a number of times, and it is not belittling the role of nurses or anyone else who has a role in those multi-disciplinary teams, but sometimes when we look at the cultural brokers at the coal face of communities, the pressure that is put on Aboriginal health workers is something that we should not forget. They too need to be supported through this process.
The member for Port Darwin raised the issue of the Northern Territory News article from about six months ago, and who could forget that article, with the children on the front page taking or faking having a bong? Without going into it too much for the sake of the family’s privacy, I can tell you honestly that they are doing very well. The children have been tested and there is no evidence of drug taking since we took action at that time.
The member for Araluen said we do not take bold actions. Let me tell you, when that child was on the front page of the Northern Territory News, the children were submitted to mandatory drug testing. If that is not bold, what is? Sure, we have not locked them up, which is probably what she wants. Anglicare is continuing to work with the family and it is an example of support being provided to a family in need. It is working and that is very heartening.
What goes to the basis of this statement is that we can implement many measures, but one of the key things is families and communities. We need to work with those families and build our communities. That was the core focus of the Building Healthier Communities document.
Research for the SNAICC Report was conducted during the end of the CLP’s reign and at the beginning of the Martin Labor government’s term. All the statistics were from that 10-year period and before any changes were made. The SNAICC Report recommendations continue to form a basis for many of our programs and services. I have read the report and it is a great document. Those of us who are committed to this process use that and other reports to determine how we can move forward and some of the systems that we can put in place.
One of the things that we cannot be fooled about, and it was certainly something that was highlighted in my statement, is that it is important for government not to think that it has all the answers. As minister, I do not. I am humble enough to say that I do not have all the answers, and I do not pretend to think that I have all the answers. Many solutions must come from the community, but it is up to us, as government and as the department, to work with communities, individuals and families, so that we can get those solutions happening on the ground.
I support most comments made by the member for Port Darwin, that this is just not an Aboriginal problem. I agree totally, and that is something that sometimes we can forget. We can think that because notifications are at an all-time high, we just focus on the indigenous problem. The same applies to alcohol and substance abuse. Many people think that alcoholism or substance abuse is just a black problem. I can tell you it is not an issue just for Aboriginal people. Alcoholism and the scourge of substance abuse is something that is just as great and increasing in the non-indigenous communities. We are not ignoring the problem and are not saying that a non-indigenous child is not as important as an indigenous child. Every kid, irrespective of their ethnic origin, is important. We all realise and value that.
The member for Port Darwin mentioned staffing. I talked about 32 new field positions this year. All of these 32 are operational staff working with children and families. They are out in the field protecting and supporting children. Considering the shortage across Australia, this is a great achievement. We only have to pick up national papers to see the crises in other states and the ACT where departments and governments are constantly finding that this is a real issue for them. It is not just here. That is why I said it is not unique to the Northern Territory, but exists across Australia. I commend my department for this recruitment, and welcome these 32 new people to our team.
The member also asked about vacancies. The advice I have received is that of the 111 positions in child protection, we have about 18 vacancies at the moment, or 16%. A further seven are about to be offered positions.
I can let the member for Port Darwin know about some of the initiatives we are undertaking to assist staff at Casuarina Plaza, and in answer to the member for Nelson’s question about office accommodation: at Casuarina Plaza, we are acquiring additional floor space to help alleviate current workplace-based problems and provide better facilities for working with clients. That was one of the key issues when FACS staff were interviewing clients, the issue of privacy and ensuring that all matters remained confidential.
At Palmerston, at the TIO Building, it is proposed to remodel the ground floor to provide a more workable arrangement by ensuring staff working areas are located at the rear of the facility and that the client interview areas will be at the front. I do not know whether the member for Nelson has been into the office space in Palmerston, but that will be an improvement.
Relocation of the Adoption Placement Support Unit to Casuarina will free up space to enable the reconfiguration and better utilisation of the overall space. We are approaching the building owners to relocate the private solicitor’s office that is there so that we can utilise this space as well. This will enable improved security and functional operations.
We are also addressing office space issues in Alice Springs and around the Territory. We all recognise if we have increased notifications, it is increasing workloads and placing more pressure on staff. We need to look at that right across the department with restructuring. The best way to address workloads, as I said in the statement, is to increase staffing levels. We are doing that. The 32 new staff is an indication that we have more staff into the system and recruitment is ongoing. We cannot be fooled by saying that 32 are enough and we can sit back; that recruitment is ongoing.
The department is also looking at its case management system, and I talked about that in the statement. I have asked them to conduct an audit on case loads to determine how the burden can be better managed. I am confident that these issues will be resolved soon.
In relation to substantiations, I can advise the member for Port Darwin that in 2002-03 the substantiation rate for indigenous kids was around 8.7%. This compares 1.6% for non-indigenous kids. We are intervening and protecting children more than ever.
The member for Port Darwin talked about cannabis and other substance abuse being a contributor to child abuse. I could not agree more. I have talked about cannabis and other substance abuse many times. Being the Chair of the parliamentary committee, we travelled around and saw this issue first-hand. The incidence is increasing in communities. I went through this when my own son, much to my disappointment, hurt and betrayal, had conducted the same activity in one of those communities. I came out publicly and apologised to those communities because I see this scourge all the time at the coal face of those communities. As I said to my son, people like him walk away and they do not see the impact of what this does on the ground in those communities. So you are right, and I agree with you. I mentioned that in my statement.
One of our key areas in the Building Healthier Communities document is about tackling substance abuse and this has been a dilemma for all governments. We are not saying that we have all the answers to this, but our policy direction in this matter means that for the first time, we can really move on this. Tackling substance abuse is probably one of the key areas because unless we are brave enough to do that, we are going to continue to see things getting worse in a number of communities.
I compliment the member for Port Darwin on her commitment. I know that time and time again, she reiterates her commitment to the Health and Community Services portfolio. I am grateful that she is the shadow minister rather than some of her colleagues. I am sure the children of the Territory and others are very grateful for that. I commend the member for Port Darwin for her comments.
My colleague the member for Stuart, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, talked at length about the coordinated packages and strategies that tackle risks to children and support our families and communities. The law must reflect the seriousness with which we view crimes against children. I welcome our tough new penalties for child sexual abuse. I welcome, too, future amendments to close down the use, production and distribution of child pornography and other materials that harm our children and our community.
By tackling ill-health and promoting social wellbeing, we are giving children a good start in life. By using a community development approach, listening to local needs and focussing on maternal health, early detection and early intervention, this government is giving kids a better and healthier future.
The member for Araluen spent half of her time simply summarising the statement, pointing out all of our achievements, so there is not a lot to which I can respond. She said that it was light on for achievement and she conveniently skipped over the fact that we have tripled funding. She dismissed our $20m a year and suggested that the CLP’s $7m a year was somehow a greater commitment. She clearly believes that funding is irrelevant. Thirty new staff, she stated, is not an achievement. She clearly feels that resources on the ground are not important.
The member for Araluen claimed to care about child protection, yet she chose to stand for election for a party that would not put sufficient resources against it. You only have to look at the petrol sniffing legislation she sponsored, which sends kids to gaol for two years, to understand her commitment to children.
She claimed the statement was simply spin. I found that quite insulting because I worked on that statement quite late into the night over a couple of days, and I could not help but think of some of the horrific cases of child abuse that I have witnessed in my years in the health sector. I was thinking of all these kids as I wrote, and she called it spin. I cannot help that. She finished with a bizarre claim that we should not send child offenders to gaol because they will only hurt children more.
The member for Wanguri talked about the holistic approach and, as Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services, he talked about police involvement. I commend him and the police on their approach to this. I am advised that a significant portion of notifications come from the police. They are at the front line and we simply could not protect our children without them. The $75m that has been injected into police will help protect our children.
I was surprised by the member for Drysdale’s contribution because it was constructive. It was very brave of him to talk on this topic; you only have to look at the totally inadequate funding he gave this area as minister to understand how much he cared about it. He constantly ripped funding out of child protection to try to plug other holes. We have acted to prevent that ever happening again. Child protection money is now quarantined.
In trying to defend himself, the member for Drysdale tried his tired old line that to criticise his performance as minister was to criticise the child protection workers. It was not the child protection workers who grossly underfunded child protection; it was him, and everyone knows it. In Estimates, and again today, we saw the member for Drysdale outline the lack of confidence he has in the public servants who make up the Department of Health and Community Services. It is worth noting that in all his time as Minister for Family and Community Services, he never once made a statement on child protection. He said our statistics were useless, but spent the rest of his response quoting half of them to try to make a point.
I covered in my speech, and was prepared to be attacked about, the increase in notifications and, sure enough, he took it up. I remain absolutely convinced that the increase in notifications means that more kids at risk are being protected than before, and I am proud of it.
In this year’s Estimates hearings, we heard the member for Drysdale suggest that our school breakfast programs condone child neglect. His bizarre claims were a little hard to fathom, but it seems he was suggesting that under the terms of mandatory reporting of child abuse, all teachers should have to make child abuse notifications whenever a child turned up to school willing to eat breakfast. We do not agree. We will not cancel the program. Fortunately, the Fred Hollows Foundation does not agree with the member for Drysdale, either, and they run a complementary program in the NT. What is also fortunate is that the shadow minister, the member for Port Darwin, does not agree with him, either, and has supported the program.
He finished by suggesting that the Stolen Generation was simply the government protecting children. I am not going to respond, but I will respond to something else he mentioned, and that was the CLP’s initiative of mandatory reporting. The CLP should be congratulated for that because we are the only jurisdiction that has mandatory reporting.
My statement has already been endorsed by some stakeholders and I thank them for their support. The Australian Childhood Foundation has released a statement today titled The Northern Territory Applauded on Positive Steps to Tackle Child Abuse. The CEO, Joe Tucci, said:
I welcome these comments. As I said before, it is important for government not to think it has all the answers. We did not set out to think that we had all the answers. we proposed our policy, what the department is doing, proposed a way forward and how we are going to work.
The member for Nelson said I did not mention the great work that the non-government sector does. I did talk about non-government organisations. They play a key role. As well as individuals, people, communities, government needs the non-government sector to be a key partner in dealing with this issue.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Madam Speaker, at Sydney’s Film Festival last month, the award for the most outstanding film was won by Dhakiyarr v The King. The film was set around the Wukidi ceremony held in Darwin last year, coordinated by Buku-Larrnggay on behalf of Yolgnu leaders, in particular Dhukal and Manman Wirrpanda. The 2004 Rouben Mamoulian Award, presented by Showtime, was selected from all 13 finalists by an esteemed panel of festival guests. I congratulate Dhukal, Manman and especially Will Stubbs at Buku-Larrnggay for his total commitment, enthusiasm, support and sensitivity for Yolgnu people.
The Northern Territory government appointed Ms Suzanne Sandral as General Manager/Nursing Director at Gove District Hospital. I warmly welcome her appointment. Ms Sandral is a registered nurse and midwife and has a Bachelor of Health Science. She recently returned after two years in India and two years in Vietnam where she assisted in establishing two hospitals. We look forward to her contribution and professionalism to health in our region.
Over 400 people were in the town centre to acknowledge Young Territorian - Nhulunbuy region, Daniel Coxon, and Territorian of the Year - Nhulunbuy region, John Price. Both recipients have been great contributors to the Nhulunbuy community for many years. John Price has given much of his time over the past 33 years to the community through his involvement in many sporting organisations, and Nhulunbuy Scouts, and is a Social Life Member of NORFORCE. John has also received Rotary’s highest honour, the Paul Harris Fellowship, in 1998, in recognition of his commitment and service to scouting and the wider Nhulunbuy community.
Daniel Coxon became involved in motocross and BMX from an early age in Nhulunbuy, and at the age of 16 became involved with the local radio station 8EAR, initially as an announcer, then producing the evening show. At 17, he became the Technical Manager, a position he still holds, along with responsibility for preparing outside broadcasts. Daniel was elected president of 8EAR in 2003 and is totally committed to the station in every aspect, including training volunteers, researching and testing computerised play-out systems and loading data to make the announcer’s tasks easier. Daniel serves the community with selflessness, cheerfulness and enthusiasm. He is an ideal role model for other younger people.
My congratulations to Dr Alan Clough, who has recently completed the requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy with his thesis titled ‘Health Effects of Excessive Kava Consumption’. His research was carried out through the Top End, and more specifically with kava in eastern Arnhem Land. The results of his research have helped to quell the black market trade in kava, and modify the health and social effects of an unregulated supply of kava in the region.
Garma 2004 was again a huge success, with the theme Indigenous Livelihoods being a key issue for Yolgnu people in East Arnhem Land. Garma is one of the most important indigenous festivals in Australia, attracting a wide range of people from around the country. It is a great opportunity to raise awareness, share ideas, knowledge and culture. I commend the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Mandaway and Galarrwuy for another well organised, informative festival promoting reconciliation, understanding and partnerships.
The National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Art Award has been won by Gulumbu Yunupingu of North East Arnhem Land, residing at both Yirrkala and Gunyungarra. The winning entry was a set of three Larrakitj or memorial poles entitled Garak, the Universe, inspired by the songs her father shared with her as a child. They reflect on the infinite depth of the universe beyond our eyes, something we see with familiarity but cannot comprehend. Gulumbu stated that we are all united, one people under the stars, and her story comes from the heart, showing the world that this is what she desires. Gulumbu is the elder sister of both Galarrwuy and Mandawuy, and her late husband won the same award in 1990 for his bark painting. Sincere congratulations to Gulumbu, who is a well respected and loved community member.
Sharon Weymouth, a highly respected member of the team at the Yirrkala Health Centre, was declared the Territory Nurse of the Year and Remote Nurse of the Year at a gala ceremony held on 23 August. Sharon is a highly motivated and clinically excellent nurse and midwife, and Yirrkala is very fortunate to have her working at their local health centre.
On 9 and 10 August, the Northern Territory government held Community Cabinet in Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy, the 27th Community Cabinet since Labor came to government. Community Cabinet is an important tool in this government’s quest to bring people and government closer together to ensure that Cabinet hears directly the concerns of communities. It also gave me the opportunity to discuss local Nhulunbuy issues with Cabinet colleagues and CEOs on the ground rather than the Cabinet room in Darwin. I will provide the House with a quick summary of the main activities undertaken.
A successful Cabinet meeting was held with Yirrkala Dhanbul and Laynhapuy Homelands Association where issues including educational needs, school attendance and self-determination were raised by a good cross-section of senior leaders of the communities. The Chief Minister and the Minister Assisting her on Women’s Policy, Marion Scrymgour, attended a women’s forum in Nhulunbuy organised by the Office of Women’s Policy. Excellent feedback was received from the forum, with more than 80 women participating including a group of Yirrkala women who returned from the Garma Festival especially to attend.
The Chief Minister and I conducted a Business Round Table, another new community consultative process set in place by this government. Discussions were dominated by issues such as availability of land for housing, and opportunities for local business arising from the projected Alcan expansion.
Minister Ah Kit and I met with the East Arnhem Regional Development Board and discussed a range of issues including indigenous employment opportunities linked to community housing construction, and a proposal for a regional youth academy. We also met with the Nhulunbuy Corporation, with general discussion on the corporation’s activity and, in particular, the implications of the proposed Alcan expansion.
It gave me a lot of pleasure to accompany Minister Ah Kit to the Gove Country Golf Club, where he announced the Territory government would provide a $150 000 toward construction of a new club house. The new club house will incorporate a bistro bar area, conference facilities, children’s play area, shaded entertainment area and will be a great sporting and social asset for the community. The current club house is a 30-year-old demountable that does not conform to cyclone standard and cannot be repaired. The new facility is well overdue. The Territory government is proud to support this $750 000 initiative in conjunction with the Gove Golf Club, which has already raised $220 000 for the project. Alcan is also contributing $150 000.
The Minister for Health, Dr Toyne, launched the East Regional Health Plan at Gove Hospital. The plan includes priority areas for action to improve the retention and recruitment of Health and Community Services staff, strengthen the relationship between health providers and schools to deliver services, to improve collaboration and communication links, to address service gaps with an emphasis on care closer to home, and to improve information management systems.
As part of the Building Healthier Communities framework, the East Arnhem Regional Plan is another exciting step in meeting our commitment to ensure all Territorians enjoy long and healthy lives, and that we have Health and Community Services that are responsive, accountable and effective.
Minister Henderson visited Nhulunbuy Police Station where Acting Senior Sergeant Charles Rue showed him around. The Nhulunbuy Police District covers the East Arnhem area, which is a large region. They have been very proactive and reduced the amount of kava being brought into the area, in targeting illegal fishing and in conducting monthly patrols to Galiwinku and Gapuwiyak. There are 86 outstation communities throughout the district. Minister Henderson met one of the new recruits on just her second day on the job at Nhulunbuy, as well as four ACPOs, 11 constables and one school-based constable who are all doing a great job. He visited the fire station, meeting with Acting Station Commander Gary Osbourne. The station is staffed by two fire members, eight auxiliaries and three volunteers.
Minister Henderson also visited businesses throughout the area and announced a new government position in Nhulunbuy to help grow jobs for indigenous people in the region today. The new Senior Indigenous Business Development Officer will be responsible for working closely with indigenous people to develop and grow business and skills capabilities and to see as many local people as possible benefit from the economic opportunities in Nhulunbuy and East Arnhem region. The officer is due to start work by the end of the month.
Minister Vatskalis met with the multicultural community and undertook an Alcan mine and refinery tour. He presented the Nhulunbuy Regional Sports Fishing Club with a Small Clubs grant of $1286 for the purchase of a new satellite phone to be used by club members and the wider community.
He also met with the Dhimurru Rangers on marine debris and the impact on turtles, the Dhimurru Rangers explaining that much of that debris originates from overseas. The minister informed the rangers that he has raised the issue with the Commonwealth government and asked them to discuss the matter with our international neighbours about foreign netting debris.
Minister Burns spent time at sea with a site visit to Arafura Pearls, the farm at Elizabeth Bay, and an inspection of an airstrip construction project at Wigram Island. He followed this up with the tour of Alcan and discussions on the proposed expansion. He also had discussions regarding the future of the public wharf facility at Nhulunbuy.
A well-attended evening social function was held at Walkabout Hotel. All ministers got to mix informally with about 80 community members from Nhulunbuy and Yirrkala. I put on record my thanks to Alcan for all their assistance with the Community Cabinet. They do an excellent job in ensuring transport, accommodation, meeting venues, catering and so on goes according to plan. They do a great job of it, and, on behalf of Cabinet, I express my thanks and appreciation for their assistance.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, first I refer to the member for Nhulunbuy’s adjournment in which he continued to refer to members of Cabinet by name. We know full well standing orders require that members are to be referred to by their electorates. I am certain that the speech writers who produce speeches for the various ministers during adjournment know full well what the standing orders say. It must, in my opinion, be a deliberate action on their part to use members’ names in these speeches.
If the ministers cannot control their staffers, then it is up to Madam Speaker to instruct everyone accordingly. Otherwise you have a group of people who are prepared to abide by the rules and another group who flaunt the rules over and over again. This is a parliament and if you are not going to follow the rules, then let us throw it all out and let us have open slather on everything. I have said this many a time in the last 10 years. I keep reminding people to do it, but they do not. I suggest, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, that you need to pull up members if they continue to do that.
This morning I asked the minister about what he intended to do about the overflow of sewage from the Alice Springs sewage ponds into St Mary’s Creek, thereby causing a huge pooling of fermenting, foul odour, smelly, stagnant water at the northern edge of the Old Timers Home. I am sure residents of the Old Timers Home do not want to have their environment forever foul smelling. I rode past St Mary’s Creek two weekends ago to check out the nature of the ponding of water there and it is awful. The water has spread nearly up to the left-hand verge of the Stuart Highway. There has been some attempt by government to dump dirt along the road verge to absorb the water that continues to ooze out. You could see the water oozing out through the sand and into little puddles on the surface. If you go further into St Mary’s Creek, it is stagnant, deep, smelling, and you can see bubbles coming up, obviously fermenting in the heat of the day.
With the weather warming up in Alice Springs, I can imagine the number of mosquitoes that will now be plaguing the residents of the Old Timers Home. It is absolutely unacceptable that the government allows this to happen. I can assure the minister that, for the months of May and June, this area was absolutely dry and suddenly we have this huge outpour. You could see the water flowing quite rapidly to the right of the Stuart Highway as you drove out of town, but on the left is where everything starts to stagnate. The sooner the minister can get something done to address this foul ponding, the better.
To more pleasant affairs, on 15 August I was invited to attend the Australian Darwin Chinese Opera Association’s staging of Splendour of Yue Ju. This was part of an Office of Ethnic Affairs program to support the Asia Education Foundation. Many people were involved in developing this program, which was essentially a Cantonese performance of their history, stories, and legends in operatic form.
I remember growing up in Malaysia where the highlight of our day would be to watch Cantonese Opera being performed on wooden stages that they would erect just prior to their arrival. They were decorated quite well with very colourful winged backdrops. While I do not understand much of the Cantonese dialect, the mime in the opera is enough to give one a good understanding of the story.
Maisy Latif, a teacher at Darwin High School, did her utmost to put this together. On the day of the performance, she declared to the audience that she nearly suffered a breakdown trying to get everything together. We had professional performers from Hong Kong as well as amateur performers who are part of the Darwin Cantonese Opera Association. Other people involved included Winnie Wong and Shirley Ng, Louis Wong, Siu Fung Man, Anne Hughes, Ying Chan, Sylvia Chau, Rosemary Wong, Connie Yik, Sharon Wong and Mary Lam. Of those names, only two are from overseas; the rest are locals.
I may not have enough time to read all of this in, but there were some six different plays. The first was the story of a crime investigation. The drama praises the wit and wisdom demonstrated by Magistrate Jaw in the solving of an horrendous murder case. The song reveals how Judge Jaw extracts and teases the truth from the suspect, Widow Zhung, in a comical manner
The second play was entitled General Di Qing’s Dilemma. This story occurs during the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago. General Di Qing is captured by his enemies and forced to marry their princess. The emperor mistakenly suspects Di Qing for having betrayed the kingdom and orders his mother’s arrest and imprisonment. In order to save his mother, General Di Qing manages to intoxicate his wife with a large quantity of alcohol and repossesses his horse and weapons.
The third play was entitled Between Love and Jealousy. General Tong meets his former lover, Concubine Jade, in a battlefield. Jade begs Tong to save her. However, Tong is still angry at Jade, whom he mistakenly believes has betrayed him by marrying the king. Nevertheless, Jade finally convinces Tong that she has been forced into the marriage and that she was still very much in love with him. Unfortunately, Tong is killed in the attempt to save Jade, and the song captures the dramatic moment when they meet.
The fourth was The Dreaming in the Garden of Peonies - the Seduction. This story is one of many popular dramas about romantic encounters between humans and immortals written during the Ming Dynasty about 700 years ago. At that time, Chinese people were ruled by dictators. The scholars who do not want to succumb to dictatorship turn their efforts imaginations into fiction in protest. This song describes explicitly and blatantly how a female ghost rises from her grave to seduce a poor scholar.
The fifth was The Saga of Princess Yin Ping. During the end of the Yuan Dynasty, China was divided into different warring states, the most powerful ruler being the ruler of Ming who defeated all warlords to establish the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century. The drama tells how one of the Ming generals was ordered to spy on a rival state, North Han, located on the northern side of the Yangtze River. The general managed to marry Princess Yin Ping in order to topple North Han. The song captures the confrontational moment between the couple when Princess Yin Ping eventually discovers the truth of her father’s assassins.
Finally, there was Thundering Golden Drums versus Barbarians’ Horns. This is a romantic but tragic story depicting the moment when two lovers are forced to separate for the sake of their survival. The story happened during a period of warring states in ancient China dating back 2300 years.
Each of these descriptions comes from the program for the performance at the Darwin Entertainment Centre.
Finally, last Saturday night I was fortunate to be invited by the Alice Springs Guides to attend the celebration of their 70th Anniversary of Guiding in Alice Springs. It was held at the Guides Hall along Stuart Terrace in Alice Springs. There was a huge turnout; there must have been 250 people in the Guides Hall, celebrating with a dinner cooked by the Guides themselves, and we were all very capably served by the Guides as they acted as waitresses on the tables.
Some of the older Guides who were there were people like Mona Byrnes, who is now in her 70s, Peg Nelson and Telka Williams. They were founding Guides in Alice Springs 70 years ago. On the main wall overlooking the dining area was a photograph of some 15 or 20 young Girl Guides, including Mona Byrnes, Peg Nelson and Telka Williams in their youth.
Ron Saint is the current President of the Supporters Group for the Alice Springs Guides. Tony Spencer is the Treasurer, and Sue Ryde is the Commissioner. It was through the energy of Sue Ryde, ably supported by the Supporters Group and the Guides in Alice Springs, that the function was so successful.
Before we started dinner to celebrate the event, we were asked to say grace. The Guides in Alice Springs have their own grace that they use, which is entitled ‘We Thank you Lord’, which is sung to the tune of Home Among the Gum Trees. I am not going to sing this, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, but I will recite the words:
This was written by a Guide from Manjimup in Western Australia. The Guides on Saturday night sang the grace, and some of the older Guides tried to join in with the tune. In all, it was a very good night. We talked about many issues about guiding. I was a cub and a scout myself a long time ago, so I had some affinity with the Guides in their activities.
One of their complaints is that in previous years, they have received much funding from government to assist them in their activities, but over the last two or three years now, funding has been continually cut, and one of their biggest problems is public liability insurance. They cannot get it, it is too expensive, and there are limitations on their activities because of the risk of public liability, so it is important for the government to address the public liability issue for all community organisations in the Northern Territory.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, from little things, big things grow. I want to tell the House about something that small that started in Alice Springs and has become nationwide.
Did you see this ad in the paper: ‘Ever wanted a nationwide exhibition? Here is your blank canvas’. It is the Telstra Paint a Pay Phone art competition. What, you might ask, does that have to do with Alice Springs? If you look at the bottom, it says Chippy Miller, Provisioning Manager, Pay Phone Services. Who is Chippy Miller? Chippy Miller is the Telstra Pay Phones Provisioning Manager in Alice Springs, a guy who has been there for many years. He had this idea a couple of years ago when he saw the vandalism on pay phones, particularly down at the Gap. There was graffiti, they had been broken into and it was just, for him, a constant battle to get his workers out there to repair them every couple of days. So he had this great idea. He went to the Gap Youth Centre and said to the kids: ‘Telstra will provide the paint if you will do the paint work. Would you take over the pay phone boxes?’ Telstra did that and the kids got involved under the supervision of the people from the Gap Youth Centre and produced these beautiful pay phone boxes with wonderful designs and paintings. I table photographs of some of the boxes, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker.
What happened? Were they vandalised from then on? No way! The kids took ownership of the pay phone boxes and the work they had done, so much so that calls for repairs dropped considerably to just one a month at the most. The kids were pretty quick. If they saw anyone giving their pay phone box what we might call ‘unwanted attention’, they would go to Gap Youth Centre staff and say: ‘Hey, there is someone out there mucking around with our box’. The boxes remain painted as they were originally by those kids about 18 months ago, and it has been a huge contributing factor in the reduction of call-outs for Telstra.
At the time, it was recognised in some of the women’s magazines, but it has been reignited again by Telstra with their Paint a Pay Phone competition, which, might I add, closes at the end of the month. I was very pleased as a follow-up to see in today’s paper: ‘Drab phone boxes seek funky design’. Stuart Park students are entering the competition. I have sent an e-mail around to schools in my electorate to ask: ‘Why don’t you enter?’, because most schools have a pay phone close by. It is a great idea.
I want to say to Chippy Miller and the young kids in Alice Springs: well done! It is a nice little initiative that you do not think very much about, but Telstra have acknowledged it. Chippy is one of those unassuming people who do not seek any recognition for this, but he deserves recognition for what he has done. Certainly, it has instilled in the kids some pride, and that is important. I wanted to draw members’ attention to that tonight and say: well done, Chippy Miller, and the kids at the Gap Youth Centre.
Dr TOYNE (Stuart): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I would like to speak about a great Territory event that has been around since 1963. I am sure there are some members of the House who would have heard about the Yuendumu Sports Weekend, but for those who have not, I will tell you a little of the history of it.
Yuendumu Sports Weekend, as the name suggests, is held in Yuendumu, 330 km north-west of Alice Springs on the Tanami Highway. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is the original Aboriginal sports and cultural festival in the Territory, one that has paved the way for many others to follow, such as Barunga, Garma and Merrepen. The Yuendumu community is the home of some 900 people, predominately Warlpiri people, and has close cultural connections to other communities such as Lajamanu, Nyirripi, Willowra, Yuelumu, and Papunya.
In the early days, the sports weekend was renowned for athletics events and more traditional activities like fire making and spear throwing. Whilst athletics no longer plays a part in the sports weekend, the traditional fire making and spear throwing events have continued through to the current sports program. The event is normally run over the three days of the August long weekend, depending on who is winning the football, which sometimes means the football grand final is not played until the following Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, depending on how many replays you need.
Activities held on the long weekend this year included the ever popular footy games, softball, basketball, spear throwing, fire making and the very popular Battle of the Bands. This year there were teams from as far away as Canteen Creek and Balgo in Western Australia, as well as Central Australian communities of Lajamanu, Ali Curung, Papunya, Ltyentye Apurte, Ntaria, Nyirripi, Willowra, Kintore and Yuelamu.
The results of the events for 2004 were: football winners – Yuelumu defeated Lajamanu in the final; basketball winners for women were Yuendumu defeating Lajamanu again; softball winners – Yuendumu defeated Papunya; in the Battles of the Bands – Wirri Manu Band from Balgo, Western Australia. The spear throwing winner was Jack Jakamarra Long from Papunya and the fire making winner was Jack Jakamarra Ross from Yuendumu, but they reckon we cheated because we had much better bean tree and made much better heat, but that is their story.
This year the sports weekend was able to attract some quality country and western music artists to keep the community entertained including Anne Kirkpatrick, daughter of the late Slim Dusty, Lindsay Butler and Harold Williams Junior, the son of Buddy Williams.
Like any major event in the Territory, be it the Finke Desert Race or the Masters Games, the Yuendumu Sports Weekend relies on the hard work of volunteers and the community in which the event is being held. This year was no exception. I would like to mention those convenors of the various sports and activities held over the weekend who have put in a lot of hard work and time to make it successful.
There are quite a few of them, but it is important to recognise them publicly because they have all done a fantastic job: Ned Jampajinba Hargraves, Eddie Jampajinba Robertson, Warren Japanangka Williams, Lindsay Japanardi Williams, Alec Japanardi Tasman, Harry Jakamarra Nelson, Stephen Juppurrula Morton, Grace Napanardi Williams, Judith Napanardi Hargraves, Geraldine Nungala Robertson, Kelly Napanangka Michael, Luanne Napanardi Williams, Anna Napanardi Penhall, Ned Jakamarra Wilson, Scotty Japanangka Brown, Neville Japanardi Poulson, James Japanardi Marshall, Frank Baarda and Peter Gamble.
Where to for the future of the Yuendumu Sports Weekend? I know the community and organisers are getting excited about celebrating the sports weekend’s 50th Anniversary of this great Territorian event in a few years’ time. They are also keen to secure longer term support from sponsors and government, particularly given the benefits of the sports weekend, which includes preventing substance abuse and promoting healthy lifestyles.
Yuendumu has suffered over the years in attempting to keep the sports weekend strong and popular. It has been very hard with many other Aboriginal sports and cultural festivals happening around the Territory. There is more emphasis placed on communities and organisers to plan and organise the events in a more professional way. There is also pressure on communities to demonstrate outcomes and messages that the event delivers to the public attending.
This year and into the future, the organisers have begun to promote the sports weekend as a grog free event, which is a very positive direction for them to move. Given the high profile of the sports weekend, the large numbers that attended over the long weekend and the positive activities held, it has quietly but effectively worked in a preventative manner already.
Also, if the success of the Yuendumu community has had through the Mt Theo petrol sniffing program can be translated in promoting the sports weekend as a grog free event, the outcomes can only be positive for them and the rest of the communities.
There is potential for promoting the sports weekend for tourism, which is an area worth investigating. Many people come up for the sports weekend. It has quite a name around Australia and it would not take much to package up some additional attractions for visitors. There are many visitors from Alice Springs and tourists who happen to be in Alice Springs and hear about the event.
There are some real possibilities for the inherent attractions of Yuendumu to be built more strongly into the sports weekend. For example the Warlukurlangu Artists and their constant supply of high quality art that could be shown to visitors, and the Warlpiri Media Association could showcase their visual arts and have product that visitors can take away with them, such as CDs and videos.
It is something that I would like to see developed in addition to bringing back some of the really strong earlier activities that characterised the Yuendumu Sports Weekend, particularly the athletics. We would certainly like to have another look at that.
The community sees the sports weekend as a really important focal point for the continuing need to bring young people of new generations into cultural activity. There is talk, as we move towards the 50th anniversary, to strengthen the cultural side of the Yuendumu Sports Weekend, introducing a contemporary art exhibition, ceremony and dancing and link that to the contemporary music so it could be a very rich mixture of traditional and contemporary activities for which the Warlpiri are so well known.
The Yuendumu Sports Weekend has a relevant place in the future of Yuendumu. We will be talking about it with the community as we debrief from this year’s event and start to prepare for next year and on toward the 50th anniversary. Yuendumu can be justly proud that they have kept this event going every year since the 1960s. Let us watch it go on and get stronger into the future.
Ms MARTIN (Fannie Bay): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, it was my very great pleasure to attend the 29th Australian Women of the Year Association luncheon, held for the first time in Darwin at the International Room at SKYCITY earlier this month.
I was welcomed by Shirley McKerrow, the Chair of the Darwin Luncheon Committee, and she praised the work of the committee for all the energy and enthusiasm that they had given to this worthwhile cause. Shirley was supported by a great committee: Vice-Chair, Sylvia Wolfe; Secretary, Julianne Quinn; and Treasurer, Llana Fullerton. They were ably assisted by Jeanette Anictomatis, Wendy James and Barbara Vos. To this committee, I say well done on a most successful event.
The Australian Women of the Year Association was founded to help women, to bring together a cross-section of working women who had distinguished themselves in their careers, to meet and listen to the views of other women on important issues. Invited guests had distinguished themselves either by courage, artistic or academic achievement, business or professional talent and work in their communities.
A further aim of the lunch is to raise funds for a different charity each year. This year’s support was directed to Camp Quality, which provides fun and activities for kids with cancer and other serious illnesses.
Teri Underwood was an excellent MC who provided continuity as well as commentary on events and proceedings, and, as always, she did a wonderful job. Cathy Banks contributed by singing the national anthem. Lyn Amy, the national president, provided a welcome, and Pat Williams said grace before we started our lunch.
I was the first speaker, paying tribute to the women who have mentored me in my life, at work, at school and, above all, my mother. The Honourable Justice Sally Thomas was the second speaker, and she was terrific, as Sally always is when she speaks. She entertained us with stories from her experiences in the court room as well as a wonderful analogy of the status of women and the history of the position of the Queen in chess. I cannot possibly do justice to Sally’s great speech, but I do intend to go back and read Alice Through the Looking Glass again for the Red Queen’s advice to Alice, something we should all remember.
Professor MaryAnn Bin-Sallik from Charles Darwin University was the final speaker, and she entertained us with stories of growing up in the camp at Winnellie and her mother’s drive and ambition to see her daughter educated and financially secure, an inspirational speech from MaryAnn, which was also very funny.
All the women who attended are notable for their achievements and their diversity: there were business women, public servants, retired women, artists and entrepreneurs. Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I seek leave to have the list of names of those who attended incorporated into the record because it is very impressive.
Leave granted.
Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, my electorate of Fannie Bay is usually a hive of activity. With August being Seniors Month, the trend has continued. One recent Seniors Month event was Bridge for Beginners and the More Experienced. It was held on 7 August at the Bridge Club in Leanyer. The Northern Territory Bridge Association and Arafura Bridge Club jointly promoted this event for which, I am pleased to say, they received a Seniors Month grant of $500. I am delighted to report that one of my constituents, Jean Vickery, who was partnered by Ruth Shields, visiting from New Zealand, won the Seniors event.
Several other Fannie Bay constituents were also involved in the day, including Joan Brears from Stuart Park playing with Janet Hickman from down the track at Herbert, who came second overall. Joan Fong from Fannie Bay was playing with Molly Cook, who was also from interstate. Peter Bailey of Tiwi played with Gun Close of Woolner. Monty O’Mahoney was there with his wife, Kathy, and her sister, Colleen. Monty was paired with Colleen, while Kathy played with Ramanathan Selvaratnam. Paula Compton of Nightcliff was partnered by Judy Miller of Larrakeyah. Eric and Pam Nunn of Larrakeyah played yet another game after just returning from Melbourne, where they represented the Northern Territory at the Australian National Bridge Championships. John and Gloria Page of Wulagi also took part in the event; it was Gloria’s first game ever and she thoroughly enjoyed it. I am also pleased to note that Mavis Findlay of Malak and Flo Findley of Coconut Grove came in third on their combined age and score. It was a great event to get those who have never played bridge to think about it and at least have a go.
On 4 August, I hosted a morning tea for teachers and ancillary staff at Stuart Park Primary. The morning tea is an annual event, and I enjoy catching up with all the teachers and staff. Principal, Bernie Bree, Assistant Principals, Christine Makepeace and Richard Woodside, and Registrar, Carole Metcalfe, lead an excellent team at Stuart Park Primary. It is great to have Richard Woodside on board. Richard has been at Nakara for quite a few years and was promoted to Assistant Principal at Stuart Park, and to have an Assistant Principal at a school that is growing so fast certainly makes a difference.
During the morning tea, I took the opportunity to present a Cockatoo Island Resource Kit to the school, and to have a chat to Stuart Park students, Paul Raqiyawa, Justina Blom, Rosie O’Reilly and Billy Dwyer. I am sure all members of the Assembly are aware of this excellent education resource. After all, the Assembly subsidised the costs of the kits for all electorate offices that chose to purchase them. So, Madam Speaker, thanks to you.
I would also like to tell members about two of my special constituents. John and Elaine Edwards are a wonderful and energetic couple who are usually involved in some kind of project to help the community. For example, two years ago they drove down to Woomera Detention Centre with play equipment and resources they had collected to set up a play group for detained children. While they were unable to meet with any of the children, they were able to leave the resources they had gathered at the centre, which, given the immense security at the time, was no easy task.
The idea for John and Elaine’s latest project, the Help Link Network, arose when John was admitted to hospital in Tasmania with chest pains while on holiday. John was, thankfully, okay, but the time he was in hospital was stressful and difficult for Elaine, as she had to manage their effects, including their car and their trailer, and find somewhere to stay.
On their return to Darwin, John and Elaine swung into action to set up a network of willing families, currently six with two more to be added if required, to offer a free service to non-resident families and individuals who require emergency accommodation and support due to the sudden hospitalisation of a family member. I have been supporting John and Elaine in establishing this service, which will operate on a referral basis from the hospital. John and Elaine have been very grateful for the support and assistance of Vicki Geytenbeek and Jane Mackintosh of RDH.
The generosity of participating families is remarkable. The service offers transport from the hospital to safe and secure accommodation in a family home, meals and the use of a telephone. As this is an emergency service, assistance will only be provided on a short-term basis, generally expected to be 24 to 36 hours, and there is no charge for the service.
John and Elaine will be trialling this project over the next few months. I wish them and the participating families the very best with what is a wonderful and giving project.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I rise to talk about one of my shadow portfolio areas specific to the local government area.
The Jabiru Town Council is established under its own legislation and does not directly come under the control of the Local Government Act. Nevertheless, it does come under the auspices of the Minister for Local Government. I draw his attention to, and I know he is aware of it, the situation at Jabiru and, in the process, I wish to discuss the philosophy of how this government is approaching local government issues.
The philosophy of the current government on local government issues was outlined during passage of the Local Government Act, which was not supported by members on this side. It was a philosophy of intervention: get involved and control the application of administrators where possible in times of trouble with councils. During the Estimates process, the attitude of government was reinforced when the minister made no attempt to side-step the fact that they intended to use administrators from time to time; the only question was how much they were going to be worth.
I am aware that the Jabiru council is currently under some stress. As I understand it, it seems to be divided into two camps. I have spoken to some of the people involved in the council during the course of today, and I know that they are meeting now. It is now 7.50 pm, and the results of that meeting are not yet known to me.
However, if the meeting is unable to resolve some of the internal issues, I am wondering what options are available to the government. I am concerned that the government will take an approach that is in the very nature of its philosophy towards local government attitudes: invasive and intrusive. I hope that the local government authorities and the minister tread a little more lightly in relation to the Jabiru Town Council and try to find some mediated result prior to them adhering to their general philosophy on local government.
Time will tell exactly what the approach is going to be from the Minister for Local Government. I hope that issues for the Jabiru council, which was established under separate legislation, will resolve themselves and, if so, I hope they continue to provide proper services for the people of Jabiru who have to live with many of the decisions that they make.
Tonight, I also express some surprise in relation to the answer given by the minister today in Question Time about the approach of one of his staffers who briefed the media on the location of Warren Anderson whilst he was talking to Parks and Wildlife. The advice I have received, and certainly the suggestion by Warren Anderson, is that the staffer, Chips Mackinolty, went out of his way to contact the media whilst the meeting was taking place between Mr Anderson and Parks and Wildlife.
During my question, I asked whether the minister is normally going to operate in this fashion if he simply just does not like someone. To my dismay, there was not attempt at all by the minister to deny that this is going to be his approach. In fact, he said he was going to encourage his press secretary to continue to operate in that fashion. That augers poorly for how the government projects itself to the community.
Government needs to take an approach to the community as being fair-minded, especially when you consider that the minister, at the time, was fully aware that charges were being brought against Mr Anderson. That he would consider it normal practice to word up the media about where they could find particular suspects is highly unusual. It would be the equivalent of the minister for police saying his press secretary is welcome to reveal the whereabouts of suspects in particular crimes. There is absolutely no difference.
If that is going to be the approach of government, the government should wonder how on earth it is governing the Northern Territory. It is an outrageous suggestion that any minister would condone these practices by a press secretary. I am certain that the minister for police would not condone it if one of his press secretaries was speaking to the media and telling them where suspects may be located, especially if those suspects were currently talking to police officers.
Mr Anderson was talking to Parks and Wildlife staff, an area of control directly under the administration of the minister for Community Development. The equivalent in the police would be exactly that: if police had someone at the police station and a press secretary rang the media to say ‘Such and such a person is at the police station. If that person walks out the front door shortly, I am sure you will get some footage of it’, the minister for police would frown on it or, at least, I hope he would frown upon it.
There are any other numbers of ministers who have authority over legislation, which often has a policing role attached. If any of those ministers think that is an acceptable way to go about their business, that is, setting people up so that the media pack can have a decent crack at them, this government has totally lost its way in terms its priorities. Its priorities should be governance, not satisfying the media pack.
The media is the conduit by which all members of parliament get their messages across and certainly it is reasonable to contact the media from time to time, but there must be boundaries. Those boundaries must fall within the proprieties of government, which have been far exceeded in this instance because Mr Anderson was set up and that is the bottom line.
We have all seen footage on the television of Mr Anderson having to endure certain attention. It is surprising in the extreme that there is communication between ministers’ offices and the media so that the media can determine the whereabouts of subjects. It is abhorrent.
The minister’s response today clearly sends a signal that if you are going to have a private meeting with this government and the government does not like the result, or the government does not like the individual concerned for whatever reason, that person may walk out of a meeting straight into the lens of a camera. To be door-stopped in that fashion, set up by government, proudly defended by government, is a very sick and dismal sign indeed.
I hope that the government heeds these warnings because I have not seen anything so disgraceful in terms of trying to satisfy media blood lust in my time in this House.
Mr HENDERSON (Wanguri): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, one of the great pleasures of being a member of parliament is interacting with a wide range of diverse groups of people based on culture, ethnic background and a spectrum of age groups. Over the last couple of months, I have been very pleased to be able to join many of them at different functions and being able to get together at these functions, irrespective of background, age or economic status.
I made an election promise to my constituents at the last election to restart an effective Neighbourhood Watch Wanguri-Leanyer Branch, which would make our community safer and stronger. I am happy to say that in four years we have one of the most active Neighbourhood Watch communities in Darwin with over 250 members and a very proactive approach to keeping an eye out for neighbours and our community.
Over the month of May, the Wanguri electorate could boast, and it was great to see these statistics at the latest Neighbourhood Watch meeting in my electorate office, that we had the lowest crime statistics and overall police reports in Wanguri and Leanyer in 10 years, a real sign that Neighbourhood Watch works and that the increased resources that government is giving our police force is making a real difference. Everyone who attended that meeting applauded the efforts of the local Casuarina police.
Neighbourhood Watch has been such a strong backbone within our community, I hope that our crime prevention initiatives cannot only be increased, but also keep spreading the news of Neighbourhood Watch within my electorate. As one constituent said: ‘We need to pull down the black sheets between our fences and get to know our neighbours again’. I am pleased to say that the Wanguri community is strengthening and growing all the time. A couple of people who have moved into properties in the electorate have taken down the black plastic.
Neighbourhood Watch hosted a free Family Fun Day on 8 August at Leanyer Primary School oval. This was another excellent initiative by the local Neighbourhood Watch branch to build safe and strong communities, but also to get everyone together for a cheap day out in the sun. It was a fantastic afternoon. The day was a huge success, with over 400 people enjoying the free sausage sizzle, activities for the kids like jumping castles, train rides, a cricket match, foam by the Firies and performances by local schools and community groups. Not often is there a day that families can attend without spending a cent, so this was great for the people of Leanyer and Wanguri.
Neighbourhood Watch had a surge in members on the day as well as engraving over 30 bikes to help lower unclaimed stolen property. Schools had the opportunity to do some fund raising, and community groups were also able to get some exposure. Special thanks go to Jessica Horn, Erin Grace, Leanyer Primary School Principal, Henry Gray, Kay Cowley for running the great cricket match, Tegan Green, Hayley Williams, our Neighbourhood Watch tattoo artist, Neighbourhood Watch staff, Ken Mildred and Geoff Pickering, for their organising, and Paul Wyatt, whom we all know, who again cooked up a storm on his barbeque. As the member for Karama said the other night, he is well on his way to achieving 1500 sausages cooked at Neighbourhood Watch functions and is well known and regarded by everyone in this House. He does a great job.
I thank everyone involved in making this day a big hit. I can guarantee it will be an annual event for as long as I am lucky enough to be the member for Wanguri. Next Dry Season, we will hold it at Wanguri oval.
It is August, and as all members will know, it is Seniors Month. I have over 300 senior constituents who reside in the Wanguri electorate, and I wanted to do something special for them to celebrate Seniors Month. I gave my senior residents the chance to come to Parliament House for a tour guided by me, and to enjoy morning tea in the Main Hall. Everyone who attended had a great time, as many of them had not been to Parliament House since it opened. This is the House of the people, and it is surprising to find people who have lived in Darwin for 20 or 30 years who have never been here. They were overwhelmed by the building. It was great to see the seniors having a good morning.
Wanguri Primary School is 28 years old this year. In that time we have seen many changes. Staff come and go, facilities get better and students pass through the doors. It is a great school and, thanks to the government, it was announced in the 2004-05 Budget that the school will again go through some much needed changes to ensure it caters for the needs of students. $130 000 will go towards upgrading and improving school facilities and equipment. This includes $10 900 to improve withdrawal rooms in the school; $12 500 for airconditioning the stage in the Assembly area; and $107 000 will put up shade over the basketball courts.
With all of these upgrades about to happen, Wanguri has also seen a change of principal recently. The staff, students, parents and I had to say goodbye to Maree Bredhauer, who had been at the school for the past 18 months. Maree did a fantastic job in her time at Wanguri, was well loved by staff, students and the community, and I thank her for her hard work and devotion and wish her the best with her new appointment. With Maree’s departure, we welcomed a new principal, Jenny Robinson, who is a friendly face in the electorate as she has come from Leanyer Primary School where she was Assistant Principal. Jenny is very welcome at Wanguri Primary. I have known her for quite a while and she will be fantastic as principal at Wanguri.
I have been working on a couple of other issues in my electorate. One was a proposal from Telstra to erect a 20-metre mobile phone tower in Leanyer at the bottom of Hodgson Drive. We held a community meeting and invited Telstra to speak to their proposal. The consensus of the meeting, and I was very pleased that Telstra agreed, was to withdraw their current application to the Development Consent Authority.
Telstra is now working with my colleague, the member for Johnston’s department, DIPE, to look for an alternative site in the Leanyer area that does not have such a visual impact on constituents. I am hoping for a good outcome for the residents in Hodgson Drive and surrounding streets. It is good that a big corporation like Telstra can come to a community meeting and listen to what the community has to say. It was all done in a very good spirit. Telstra agreed to withdraw their application, work with me as local member and the government to see if there is an appropriate alternative site that does not have such a high visual impact on the neighbouring amenity.
One of the great moments that I have had as member for Wanguri, and with my constituents in the community recently, was celebrating with a large number of those constituents the Greek soccer team’s UEFA European Championship victory. I was very pleased to go along to a function at the Cypriot Community a couple of nights before the big final game and hear that the community was having a lot of trouble in terms of arranging a big screen for the morning at the Greek School. Working with Top End Sounds and the community, the government was able to provide a big screen and financially support that.
I thank Austar and place on the Parliamentary Record tonight that they agreed to waive their normal community charges to provide that broadcast. I was there at 4 o’clock in the morning with 500 or 600 of our Greek community, my 10 year-old son - the member for Millner was there along with other members – and it was a night that I will never forget. It was a fantastic occasion, and when that header went in to give the Greeks their first championship trophy, the roof nearly went off the Greek School at Nightcliff.
It was a sign of how strong that community is. It was great to be part of it. For my 10 year-old boy, Alasdair, it was something that he will certainly remember. After the celebrations in the early hours of the morning, we drove around town and saw the Greeks with the flags out of their windows, beeping their horns, and the excitement around the city was just amazing …
Mr Bonson: In the mall.
Mr HENDERSON: And in the mall, yes. Walking up the mall to the steps of Parliament House, the Greek community was led by John Nicolakis, Tony Miaoudis, and Sammy Hatzivalsamis singing the Greek national anthem, waving the flags on the steps of Parliament House and calling for the Chief Minister, unfortunately the Chief was not here. It was fantastic and, as Alasdair said to me: ‘I will always remember the day that the Greeks went crazy in Darwin’. To our Greek community, it was great to be part of that.
It just goes to show how out of touch the opposition are at the moment, particularly the member for Drysdale in respect of the poisonous media release he issued. It hurt and offended many members of the Greek community that the opposition would begrudge a few dollars of taxpayers’ money to celebrate what, for that community, was a very special moment. As many constituents in my electorate said: ‘We have worked here and paid our taxes for many years’. To begrudge them a couple of beers and a bite to eat to celebrate a magnificent win for their community to which everyone was invited was very churlish.
This is the House of the people. We have people from all walks of life; all different ethnic communities, sporting groups, business groups come here to share the ambience of Parliament House and enjoy some social interaction. To deny the Greek community the same opportunity and to be so churlish about it was quite incredulous. I just could not believe that they, particularly the member for Drysdale, had got his antennae so wrong. The Greek community did take extraordinary offence to his comments. They have long memories and will remember those comments.
It is the year of the Greeks this year, with the Olympics in Athens as we speak. It was great the other night to go to the Greek school again for the Olympic opening ceremony. Congratulations to the kids of the Greek school who put on a fantastic version of the opening ceremony, with the junior and senior soccer games going to 10 or 11 pm. I would like to congratulate Lilliane Gomatos and her organising team. It was great to be there for the evening and to share in the excitement of a very important and strong part of our community which has made such a great contribution to Darwin over many years. 2004 has been a fantastic year with the European Championship win and the Olympics, and I hope that they have a 2004 that they will never forget. Certainly, Alasdair and I will never forget the night that the Greeks went crazy in Darwin.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I comment, sadly, on the death of a great Territorian, Mrs Inez McLeod who passed away at Royal Darwin Hospital on Wednesday, 18 August 2004.
Mrs Inez McLeod was one of those great Territorians who did a lot of her work out of the spotlight. Much of it was done raising the fantastic McLeod family. Mrs McLeod came to Darwin from Melbourne with her husband, John Senior and children Jock, Ian, Jenny, Janet, Bill and Donald in April 1964.
They moved to Darwin as a result of Mr McLeod taking up the position of Building Supervisor with the Department of Works. They were to stay in Darwin for two years and then return to Melbourne. However, this was not the case and the entire family remained in Darwin.
Mrs McLeod will be remembered from over the years as a tuck shop lady at Nightcliff and Parap Primary Schools, and tea lady for Transport and Works. She was involved in the Brownies, and was a volunteer worker with the Salvation Army for over 30 years. Her charity work with the Salvos centred mainly around visiting and assisting people at Royal Darwin Hospital.
She is survived by her husband, six children, 18 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. Mrs Inez McLeod is the mother of Ian and Jock McLeod, both of whom have outstanding service with the Northern Territory Fire Service. One of her grandsons is none other than the famous Andrew McLeod who plays for the Adelaide Crows. Two of her sons married relations of mine and they will sorely miss their grandmother, mother and wife.
I hope that the McLeod family stays strong. Mrs Inez McLeod was buried today. I am sure that she will be remembered with great love and her family will continue to represent her in an outstanding manner.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I wish to speak about the Darwin Golf Club and its General Manager, Mrs Robyn Miller-Smith.
Members would be aware that many clubs and associations in the Territory today are facing financial hardship. It is my pleasure to advise members that the Darwin Golf Club, through a bit of hard work and lateral thinking, is moving against the trend.
Three years ago, the Darwin Golf Club was in a position in which many sporting clubs find themselves: increasing expenses, dwindling income through low participation rates and ever-increasing debt. The club needed to find the funds to pay off a $94 000 residual debt for equipment purchased in the 1980s, and faced the prospect of a significant loss for the financial year. The club embarked on a national search for a new general manager, and appointed Mrs Robyn Miller-Smith to the position.
Robyn arranged to refinance the debt for a short term to allow her committee to put some ideas into place to try to arrest the slide into debt. The club realised its best assets were the professional ground staff and the myriad of machinery required to maintain a championship golf course, much of which was under-utilised during parts of the year.
In consultation with the committee, the course superintendent, Shane Bisseker, and members, it was agreed that one prospect was to utilise the assets and have the machinery pay for itself whilst also providing a regular cash flow to the club and eliminating debt accumulation for regular equipment replacements.
Robyn approached me and asked if I could arrange a meeting with the Minister for Sport and Recreation to let the executive committee find out what it needed to do to be in a position to tender for grounds maintenance contracts at various government-managed sport facilities. Refreshingly, this club was not seeking a hand out, but rather assistance in the form of advice and expertise in operating on a more commercial footing and still presenting the golf course as a top class championship course.
The meeting was arranged between Minister Ah Kit, Robyn Miller-Smith and club President, Phil Timney. As a result of the dedication, commitment and plain hard work by the general manager and president, the club achieved endorsement as an accredited tenderer for government business. Subsequently, the Darwin Golf Club was awarded the Marrara Sports Precinct tender that runs through to May 2005. The club’s greens superintendent also provided valuable expert advice in the preparation for Test Cricket and AFL matches on a commercial basis. Income from the Marrara contract has allowed the club to reduce its operating debt, replace outdated machinery and improve club house facilities. At the same time, the club converted an operating loss to a small profit within 12 months.
With the finances under control, the club embarked on an advertising campaign to encourage more people, including members, social golfers and visitors, to use the club and golf course facilities. The results are still flowing in, with the club posting a small profit again this financial year with further significant reduction of overall debt.
The tender has resulted in the employment of five additional staff members, making a total 16 greens staff including two apprentices, one of whom is a motor apprentice and the other is studying a Level 3 Horticulture certificate. The office also employs a trainee office manager studying a Level 3 Business Certificate through Group Training NT. This is the second trainee the club has successfully put through the course. By getting out of the square in terms of the way the club went about its business, Robyn and her executive committee have not only put the club on a sound financial footing, but the transition has resulted in the creation of training opportunities for apprentices and cadets.
To assist with the overall growth of the club, they recently we took over the operations of the Golf Professional Shop, which was previously managed by a private contractor. The arrangement is also generating further income for the club as well as providing employment for two full-time staff, three part-time and two casuals. The success of this venture to date looks like resulting in the employment of another two trainee staff.
The Golf Professional Shop is now the club’s marketing arm as it is the first point of contact for the public. Utilising expertise of Shane Bisseker and his professional ground staff, the club has recently established a turf farm on leased land in Humpty Doo in a joint venture with a local landscape gardener. It is expected that this venture will also provide regular cash flow to the club and allow the club to embark on major renovation work to greens, fairways, and tees with turf grown for specific purposes available at the cost of growing it.
In May 2004, the Darwin Golf Club invited five time British open winner, and international renowned golf course architect, Peter Thompson, to inspect and come up with the blueprint for future work for the course. Peter had not been in Darwin since the construction phase of the course and was pleasantly surprised when he saw the way the course had developed over the years. He made a number of suggestions on improvements to the course, and made a number of recommendations to the committee. Peter Thompson will be presenting a written report with his recommendations to the committee in the near future and you can expect to see further improvements of the golf course once the recommendations are adopted.
The great work being done at Darwin Golf Club is not limited to looking after the interests of members only. Whilst not widely publicised, the club is an active member of the community in terms of fund raising and assistance to other non-profit organisations. It is rare that a private golf club will open it doors to charities and other community organisations where there is no tangible benefit for the members or an addition to the bottom profit line. Happily for our community, Darwin Golf Club has a very strong sense of what it means to be corporately responsible.
To date in 2004, the Darwin Golf Club has hosted numerous charity golf days as fundraisers for individual association needs. In excess of $25 000 has been raised this year for organisations including the NT Irish Association, the Variety Club, Camp Quality, the Rotary Clubs of Darwin, the Lords Taverner supporting junior cricket in the NT, and many more. Over many years, the club has also made significant contributions from its own fundraisers to Legacy NT.
The club also provides their club house facilities free of charge to be used for dinners and other fundraising activities for non-profit organisations. The executive committee of the Darwin Golf Club believes that the goodwill resulting from the charity days coupled with exposure of the golf course and club facilities to the wider community provides a clear win-win result.
Darwin Golf Club could not have realised its recent achievements without the foresight of the executive committee and the commitment and hard work of Robyn Miller-Smith. Unfortunately for the club, Robyn is moving on to greener pastures having secured a position as PR Manager for a major Darwin law firm. I take this opportunity to congratulate Robyn for leaving the Darwin Golf Club in a far stronger position than it was in when she arrived. I wish her well in her new role. I imagine she will need to engage all her negotiating skills to keep the peace between lawyers and their clients. Past experience indicates that she will do well.
I congratulate members of the committee of Darwin Golf Club for their innovative and professional approach to operating a major sports club in an increasingly difficult environment for clubs and non-profit organisations generally. I look forward to reporting to members on further facility improvements at the club as it pushes for inclusion in the top 100 golf clubs in Australia.
Robyn’s replacement as general manager will leave big shoes to be filled, however with the strategies now in place, I am sure that not only members of the club but the Darwin community at large will enjoy the benefits of access to a first-class golfing facility.
Dr BURNS (Johnston): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I rise to speak about an organisation that has its major facility in my electorate, and that is Somerville Community Services Incorporated, which is an arm of the Uniting Church and does fantastic work in our community.
I was fortunate to be able to deliver a cheque in the amount of $3850 from the Community Benefit Fund to Sommerville, which will be used towards the No Interest Loan Scheme launched in the Territory last year. I will give some detail about that scheme later. First I want to speak about the staff and board members at Somerville who, working together, make that organisation such a great asset to the community.
During the presentation of the cheque on 6 August, I was treated to a truly excellent morning tea with Vicki O’Halloran, who is the CEO, Cherry Cameron, the Manager of Disability Services, who incidentally was celebrating her birthday that day, Josie Bacus, the Finance Manager, Elaine Castles, Executive Assistant, Kathy West, the Finance and Payroll Officer, Norma Coonan, the Receptionist, Janey Bacus, Acting Finance Officer, James Rhee, IT Support and Administration Officer, Gerri Rantall-Sykes, Family Support Worker and Counsellor, Carol Cendo, Administration Coordinator, and Adelaide Dos Santos, the Manager’s Assistant.
Vicki took me on a tour of Sommerville’s premises on Lee Point Road. They were very impressive and offer a conducive environment for both workers and clients. Sommerville is a local non-government, not-for-profit youth, family and community welfare organisation based in the Northern Territory and is the Territory’s own. It maintains strong constitutional links with the Uniting Church in Australia, but is governed by an independent and professional board of directors, ensuring that the agency has the capacity to respond to the needs of people, whatever their circumstances.
The board of directors comprises Daphne Read, President, Vice-Presidents Chris Tudor and Bruce March, and board members Stuart McMillan, Barry Prior, Margaret Black, Ron Brandt, Meredith Day, John Edwards, Phil Johnston, Kevin Kennedy, Quentin Dennis and Jan Richardson.
Disability Services manages nine houses, providing supported accommodation for people with disabilities and with developmental disabilities and high support needs. Six of the houses are located in the northern suburbs, one in Howard Springs and two in Katherine, each accommodating up to six clients ranging between eight and 62 years of age. Staff are present 24 hours a day to provide clients with adequate support.
Family Services is the community welfare arm of Sommerville. The role of Family Services is to assist people participate in society at a level to which they aspire and are capable of achieving. Family Services staff work with people of all ages: children, adolescents and adults, and can work with families, couples or individuals. They also assist anyone who is experiencing a crisis or problem with their life. They provide counselling and psycho-therapy, practical, emotional and educative support, financial counselling and short- to medium-term supported accommodation.
Family Services offers advocacy, liaison and referral to other agencies and professionals. While the services offered vary greatly, each has a common theme and that is to empower people to exert control over their lives.
Family Services also operates a service in the Katherine region. This service offers counselling and support for young people aged between 12 and 24 years, and their families. The emphasis is on averting homelessness by means of individual and family counselling, family mediation, group work, advocacy, referral liaison, education outreach and practical support. Access to transitional accommodation is also facilitated, and assistance with locating appropriate long term accommodation can be provided.
Somerville employs approximately 180 staff who work towards its mission, which is ‘to enhance the dignity and quality of life of people most disadvantaged in and damaged by our society’. I am sure all members of this parliament join with me in congratulating Somerville on their work and on the way in which they fulfil that fairly big mission statement. There is a lot attached to it, but they do a fantastic job. The people and the board of Somerville are incredibly committed and they do such good work in our community.
Among the work they do, as I foreshadowed earlier, is the No Interest Loan Scheme. In August 2003, Somerville’s Board of Directors made the decision to launch the No Interest Loan Scheme in the Northern Territory in conjunction with the Ian Potter Foundation, with a capital of $30 000. The scheme has 45 current loans for essential white goods.
The rationale behind the decision by the board to implement the No Interest Loan Scheme was, first, it is virtually impossible for most low income earners to save the full cash price of major household items, such as fridges, washing machines and other essential white goods. Also, low income consumers generally pay the highest rate of interest for credit from mainstream providers, and the high cost of consumer credit for low income consumers has long been recognised as a poverty trap in itself. The Somerville No Interest Loan Scheme provides people on low incomes with flexible and affordable credit for the purchase of basic household whitegoods. Loans can only be used for the purchase of basic household whitegoods, such as those I mentioned earlier.
The philosophy behind the provision of the loans was: to offer low income consumers credit on fair and reasonable terms; to provide low income consumers with access to credit without the burden of high interest charges; a belief that all people should have access to essential household goods for which credit is often a necessity; and, finally, a commitment to an assessment process that includes a determination of the applicant’s capacity to repay the loan.
No interest loans are an alternative form of credit provision. They can also be distinguished from emergency financial assistance programs by their concern to ensure that loan recipients have the capacity to repay the loan. No interest loans are an important part of an holistic response to the needs of low income consumers. The scheme is administered along with the other services offered by Somerville, such as financial counselling.
They are important. I was told anecdotally by staff that as people discharge their loans, there is an incredible feeling of achievement. Some of these people may have had difficulty gaining or regaining a credit rating, and it gives people great self-esteem to fulfil their loan conditions.
All applicants are required to attend an interview to discuss their application. Currently, applicants must reside in the Darwin or Palmerston and outer Darwin area. They must reside in a permanent dwelling and have been at that address for at least six months. Social security recipients holding a current health care card are eligible. Applicants must have the ability and willingness to repay the loan.
The Brotherhood of St Laurence identified the following characteristics of low cost loan schemes operated by community agencies nationally: loans tend to be for small amounts, often less than $1000; the bulk of lending is for purchases that improve the living standards of the household; the typical borrower from community credit agencies is a woman with dependent children living without the support of a partner and renting accommodation from government; the incidence of a significant arrears problem among pensioner and beneficiary borrowers is very low; and, finally, community agencies do not provide credit in isolation - most provide a range of other services, such as financial counselling, consumer advocacy, budgeting and buying advice.
I know the staff of Sommerville are very proud of what they do. I commend Vicki O’Halloran, their CEO, for having launched such a program. It was my pleasure to have supported this great program through the Community Benefit Fund scheme. I commend Sommerville Community Services to the House. We are all aware of the great work that they do.
Finally, picking up on the member for Greatorex and his tirade about effluent overflow from Ilparpa Swamp, I reiterate what I said earlier today: this government has had a plan for effluent overflow from Ilparpa Swamp, something the previous government never did. We opened up a causeway along St Mary’s Creek to alleviate the problem, through negotiations with the native title holders, something else the previous government never did.
What the member for Greatorex omitted to say during his little tirade is that there has been a commitment by this government to eliminate dry weather effluent overflows by the end of this year. In the project that we have invested $6.2m in, which is the Ilparpa Swamp overflow project, much of the work has already been completed. The member for Greatorex well knows that the pipes have been laid, that contracts have been let for some storage facilities at AZRI, and that there are trials underway seeking to recharge the aquifer.
It is mischievous of him to come into this House and pretend that somehow, the government is allowing stagnant effluent to congregate there, with no thought at all for residents; be it at the Old Timers or around Ilparpa Swamp.
This is a government that has addressed this problem. We have invested serious money in it, along with Power and Water, and we are going to get solutions to it. As with many other things that the member for Greatorex does, he clutches at straws; he spins out a line and hopes he gets a bit of coverage in the Alice Springs News or that he can send it out to some constituents. Alice Springs people are not going to be fooled by that. They have seen the pipes go in and the contracts being advertised in the paper. They have been following the project very carefully during the time that this government has been in power, and they know we are addressing the situation, and that it will be solved in time.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
MINISTERIAL REPORTS
Community Benefit Fund – Grants Approved
Community Benefit Fund – Grants Approved
Mr STIRLING (Racing, Gaming and Licensing): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to inform the House that community groups throughout the Territory have received grants from the latest round of the Community Benefit Fund. Under the round, the second one for 2003-04, more than $350 000 has been distributed to a total of 128 community groups.
The regional breakdown is as follows: 25 grants approved for Alice Springs worth $74 801; six grants approved for Tennant Creek worth $12 200; nine grants for the outer-Darwin region worth $28 466; 13 grants for the Katherine region worth $32 887; nine grants for East Arnhem worth $27 324; and 66 grants for the Darwin region worth $174 978.
While funding requests far exceeded the available budget, unsuccessful organisations are encouraged to apply for a grant under the next funding round.
Government is proud to be able to assist the efforts of community groups throughout the Territory through this Community Benefit Fund. It was set up by government to ensure that a proportion of the money received from the operation of electronic gaming machines is made available to directly assist development of Territory communities. Non-profit Territory-based organisations are able to apply for grants of up to $5000 for approved community projects and activities.
The true purpose of this fund was lost under the former government, which had no clear guidelines and chose to use it for blatant pork-barrelling in the lead-up to the election. In the report tabled in February 2002, the Auditor-General raised serious questions about the way this fund had been managed by the former government. As a result, we reviewed the fund to ensure its use was transparent and subject to proper controls. We introduced comprehensive guidelines and grant application packages. We introduced legislation to clearly identify the specific purposes for which these grants may be used. We established a committee made up of government and community representatives to advise the government on the allocation of grants from the fund. It is now dispersed two times each financial year.
Initially, some $600 000 was available, but the government has since increased that amount to around $700 000 each year. Since the first grants were handed out under the new-look Community Benefit Fund early last year, more than $1.3m has been distributed to 470 community groups throughout the Territory.
I acknowledge the work that the CBF committee has done since it was established. They give very careful consideration to each application and provide impartial recommendations to me on how those grants should be distributed.
I particularly acknowledge the Chair of the committee up until now, Andrew Smith. Andrew has also served the Territory as Commissioner for Taxation and Director of the Racing, Gaming and Licensing Division for a number of years. Andrew is off to Brisbane shortly. I thank him for his chairmanship of the Community Benefit Fund Committee. He has done an exceptional job. I am sure we all, in this House, wish him the best of luck for his new life in Brisbane.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I add the opposition’s best wishes to Andrew Smith and his wife as they move to Queensland.
Minister, I note the quantum of funds flowing to community groups. I trust that administration of these funds by sporting and community groups will be permitted in ways that they determine, as properly constituted bodies, unlike the actions of the Minister for Sport and Recreation who likes to wield a big stick and exercise bullying tactics over sporting and community groups with regard to the disbursement of funding and commitment that has been made on behalf of Territorians to sporting groups.
In light of your government’s decision to increase the availability of electronic gaming machines within our community and, on a number of occasions, the reported increase in the level of gambling in our community, I note there has been no indication of an increase in funding to Amity or Anglicare. These two worthy organisations have repeatedly lobbied you, and your government, to have funding increased to them so it is no longer capped, but increased to reflect the rising levels of gambling problems within our community.
It was only last Saturday that I received a phone call in my electorate office from a person who is seeking to set up a Gamblers Anonymous group within the Northern Territory and is seeking funding. I will now direct that person to you, minister, to see whether you can assist this lady, Amity and Anglicare.
Mr STIRLING (Racing, Gaming and Licensing): Madam Speaker, I have had quite intense discussions with Anglicare, Amity, Sommerville and a whole range of service providers in this area over the past few weeks in relation to releasing a fairly large grant for research funds into problem gambling. It may be that there are other organisations apart from Anglicare and Amity which have had a monopoly on the funding available over recent years. We are going to look at that very closely, but we remain in close touch with them and we will continue to work through those issues.
I wish the Leader of the Opposition would stop referring to the fact that we are increasing the number of machines in the community. There is no truth to that statement. We have changed the parameters under which venues may apply for gaming machines. To say we are increasing the number of machines in the community is simply not true at the moment. There may be an increase over time, but that is not the intent of the changes we made.
Building Healthier Communities - Progress
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, on 16 February this year, with my colleague, the Minister for Family and Community Services, I had the pleasure of launching the government’s vision for health and well-being of Territorians. Building Healthier Communities outlines the commitment, direction and priorities of the government for health and community services over the next five years. Today, I wish to outline to the Assembly what we have done already to convert this vision into action.
Building Healthier Communities is based on six key areas for improving health and well-being within the Territory. They are: giving kids a good start in life; strengthening families and communities; getting serious about Aboriginal health; creating better pathways for health services; filling service gaps; and tackling substance abuse.
These are supported by four ways in which we will work to improve the health and community system as a whole: building quality health and community services; creating better ways of working together; valuing and supporting our work force; and creating a Health Information Network.
We are determined that Building Healthier Communities will lead to real change. Accordingly, the Minister for Family and Community Services and I handed it over to the Department of Health and Community Services to put into action. 15 000 copies have now been distributed and they are evident in every delivery site I have been visiting over the last nine months. I am pleased to be able to report solid progress already.
Our commitment to community engagement and public accountability, and recognition that the Territory’s complex health and well-being issues cannot be solved by a single department acting alone, led the department to an extensive consultation process. These consultations involved internal staff, external providers and key stakeholders. It was led by the departmental executive and resulted in 2100 individuals contributing their ideas and suggestions through either face-to-face contact or written submissions. This also incorporated input from 185 external organisations across the Territory. Public input was encouraged through invitations in the media and on the department’s web site.
All this input has now been captured and synthesised into themes and key priorities. This information is then being used to inform the content of business plans in all areas of health and community services for priorities over the next 12 months.
A suite of plans has now been endorsed to meet the diverse business of this department, which covers all the various programs within both the core service and policy divisions. There are plans about knowledge management, human resources and work force development. An Aboriginal action plan will inform core service provision across the department.
Critically, regional plans, such as the one from Katherine that I launched about four weeks ago, have been made to address cross-program requirements with specific regional flavour. It was a great pleasure to launch the Katherine Regional Plan on behalf of minister Scrymgour and myself on July 15 in Katherine, and the Central Australian Plan in Alice Springs on 5 August. The East Arnhem Regional Plan was launched on 9 August in Nhulunbuy.
Exciting for minister Scrymgour and I is that everywhere we have been in the Territory since its launch, we have seen Building Healthier Communities and heard people talking about it. The dialogue between the department and the community has created a widespread sense of ownership of the action plans that are now emerging.
Building Healthier Communities has really engaged staff and community. To share with you one anecdote: a nurse working in one of the Top End remote communities, Borroloola, travelled several kilometres to visit two outstations. In each of the outstations, she led focus groups of at least 15 stakeholders and then provided detailed summaries to the various programs to inform their planning, such was her willingness to share information and commitment to ensure that the most remote input was captured.
Over the next 12 months, the department will work closely with stakeholder groups to strengthen partnerships and collaborative arrangements in addressing ways to move forward on issues of importance.
Madam Speaker, it is fair to say that the department has gone through enormous changes in the last 12 months. Building Healthier Communities gives our health and community services system clear directions and priorities, and we are confident, thanks to the huge efforts of staff, that Building Healthier Communities will become a plan of action, not just another strategy that sits and gathers dust.
Ms CARTER (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I am quite sure the minister has had plenty of advice and information provided to him by his staff to tell him how wonderfully it is all going and how much the staff across the department have welcomed this.
Obviously, I have different information from staff and, quite frankly, they see it as rearranging the deck chairs yet again. The government is trying to look busy when, in fact, nothing much is changing. I encourage the minister to concentrate on a couple of key issues, one of which is shortage of general beds within many of our hospitals and the other is recruitment and retention of nursing staff in particular.
I am reliably informed that at present we are short nine community health nurses in the Palmerston and Darwin area. One of the reasons nurses are not staying is, for some reason, management’s refusal to offer these nurses part-time work when many of the have family situations that do not allow them to work full-time and they request part-time.
Minister, these booklets and glossies are all very well in their lovely blue livery, however there are some core issues undermining your work. I suggest you tackle them.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, it is interesting that the doom and gloom has come again, but while the member for Port Darwin has been sitting in Darwin taking phone calls from occasional disaffected people, I have been to 24 delivery sites, many of them in remote areas. It is about time you got out there and had a look at some of the delivery sites and spoke to some of the staff. You cannot do it by remote control; you have to get out there and talk to people at their workplaces.
That is what we are doing. I have been to 24 delivery sites in the last nine months, many of them remote. More than producing a booklet, we are going out and personally discussing with our agency staff and other stakeholders the directions that we are going to take.
I can assure you, Madam Speaker, there is a fantastic spirit out there. If you want to pour a bucket of cold water over it, that is at your peril politically.
Northern Territory Soccer - Update
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, I wish to report to the House progress on moving Northern Territory Soccer ahead and, indeed, to resolving issues that may have threatened the viability of the $5m multipurpose pitches and grandstand at Marrara.
Clearly, all of us are looking forward to all sporting codes enjoying success and a strong future. In the case of soccer, this particularly applies to a strong future for the youngsters in the game. In recent weeks, my office has been in receipt of a number of letters, e-mails and other representations that suggest the Territory soccer fraternity is deeply divided on certain issues. This was extremely troubling to me and, indeed, people within the soccer community.
It was an absolute requirement of both the national Crawford Inquiry into Soccer as well as the local independent review of the code that soccer unites under a single flag that is truly capable of representing all interests of the sport. This was an absolute requirement of government for the allocation of $5m towards the Marrara facility. It was a fundamental principle agreed to by the various factions in soccer over a number of meetings I have held with them over the last six months. They all understood funding of the Marrara facility, not to mention increased funding to the Soccer Federation, was absolutely contingent on achieving performance targets.
Statements I made to the Northern Territory News and other media outlets in the last few days have been a wake-up call, one I did not make lightly. I am particularly concerned at the damage disunity in the code would have on the 2000 or so kids who play soccer every week. We recently funded $500 000 towards improving junior facilities throughout the Territory and, frankly, disunity among the adults involved in administration of the sport is a very bad look.
It is with pleasure that I report to the House that Daryl Manzie, a former minister in this place and current patron of soccer in the Northern Territory, has agreed to sit down alongside me over the next three days and conduct separate meetings with all the factions. Hopefully, we can clear the air once and for all. This includes the Darwin Premier Soccer League, the Territory Amateur Soccer League, the juniors, the referees and the ladies. Both Daryl and I will be meeting with the Northern Territory Soccer Federation, headed by Ziko Ilic, at the end of the week.
We may end up looking like the Laurel and Hardy of peacemakers, but both Daryl and I, like everyone in this place, values the Territory philosophy of being able to sit down and talk things through to the benefit of us all. I mention to the House that Daryl is giving up an important training session for his up-and-coming membership of the Australian National Dragon Boat racing team, so he is being a good sport in more ways than one. I am going into these meetings with an open mind and do not seek to pre-judge their outcomes.
It is, however, my hope that we can resolve the outstanding issues that soccer is required to meet in order to receive the extra funding allocated to them in the last budget, not to mention the multipurpose facility at Marrara. This includes resolving the issue of advertising for a senior position as CEO of the Northern Territory Soccer Federation and meeting the other time lines required of them by the independent review of soccer.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, the nub of this issue is that you have a minister who is interfering over a properly constituted board. To stand outside that board and say: ‘I have $5m, I do not mind carrying a big stick, you sack your CEO or you will not get the $5m’, is the action of a thug rather than a minister of the Crown. They are, indeed!
Your actions, minister, are resulting in enhancing the increased conflict and division within the code, and now you have to resort to an endeavour to create some peace by calling in Mr Daryl Manzie, who has also been deeply offended by the actions that you have displayed.
You understand, too, that it was the local code which was the very first code to implement the recommendations of the Crawford Review. I put it to you, minister, that there are gentlemen right across our country who have been concerned about your actions. I suggest you pick up the phone and talk to Mr Frank Lowey about the actions of a minister of the Crown who would treat a constituted board in this way.
Are your actions to try to create a harmony within this code, or divide it? Your actions are creating division and that is why you need Mr Manzie. The issue that we all need to understand is this: is the $5m that your government has committed to the code going to be spent on the code or not? Or are you just going to play games? That money has been committed from the beginning by the CLP and we stand by that commitment. We support soccer; you divide it!
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I am also a great supporter of soccer, and I was disappointed by the minister’s comments in the paper on the weekend. I support the CEO. He is doing an excellent job in trying to solve a difficult problem.
I attended a meeting about three weeks ago at the Holiday Inn, which was to discuss the formation of the new body that was required by the Crawford Review to run soccer. The CEO explained how players would vote for their representatives, and how you would have representatives from junior, women and referees. It was disappointing that at that meeting there was a particular group who seemed to want to boycott that meeting. I ask the minister to make sure that, when he criticises the CEO, he also carefully looks at whether people are deliberately trying to undermine what the CEO is trying to do in a very tight timetable. He is very committed to introducing the reforms of the Crawford Review. That was emphasised during that meeting.
We should support the CEO. I would rather the CEO is allowed to have his say and the minister stay out for the time being.
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, government has made a significant financial commitment to soccer. It is important that there is transparency and accountability and acquittal of all taxpayers’ money.
The appointment of a highly credentialled chief executive officer is important to lead soccer into the future. For example, look at Chris Natt from AFLNT, Neil Dalrymple from NT Cricket; and Tim Heath from Rugby. I have stated consistently that advertising the position of CEO and all positions at the NTSF was vital to the transparent acquittal of the money. Mr Milliken applied for the new position. If Mr Milliken is not successful, consideration should then be given to honouring his current contract through a different role. I will keep working with Northern Territory Soccer towards a bright future.
Madam SPEAKER: Before I go on, Leader of the Opposition do you recall me saying last week that we should not use Christian names in our asides? You did it three times in the minister’s report, so could you please refrain from doing it again?
Mr MILLS: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Ethnic Affairs Programs - Outcomes
Mr VATSKALIS: (Ethnic Affairs): Madam Speaker, I provide the Assembly with a report of the outcomes of round one of the 2004-05 Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program.
The budget for the 2004-05 Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program is a record $717 000, which does not include the $0.5m per annum for the next three years available through the Ethnic Communities Facilities Development Program.
In response to invitations to apply for funding under round one of the Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program, the Office of Ethnic Affairs received 37 applications requesting assistance, totalling $837 000. Four of these applications related to capital works and, accordingly, the applicants were advised to apply under the new $0.5m Ethnic Communities Facilities Development Program. Two of the applications were for events taking place in June and so were funded through the 2003-04 Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program. Of the remaining applications, I have approved sponsorship totalling $405 000 for 23 applications.
In addition, as committed during 2003-04, $12 000 was provided for the Indonesian Cultural Festival, which took place on 15 August. Consequently, the overall amount approved for round one was $470 000. I table for honourable members a full list of the projects that have been funded.
The Office of Ethnic Affairs has called for applications from community groups under the Cultural and Linguistic Awards in the Centralian Advocate on 20 August and the NT News on 21 August. The Office of Ethnic Affairs has also sent copies of the guidelines and application forms to migrant and ethnic community organisations.
The Cultural and Linguistic Awards makes available $150 000 with the aim of providing opportunities for individuals and ethnic community groups to undertake research, further study, or specialised training in languages or other cultural activities related to their ethnic origins. The closing date for applications is 24 September 2004. To further advance our multicultural society, I hope that honourable members will encourage their migrant and ethnic constituents to develop projects to maintain, develop, and share their diverse cultures with other Territorians.
I also take this opportunity to inform honourable members of three forthcoming festivals funded through the Ethnic Affairs Sponsorship Program. They are the Filipino Barrio Fiesta, which will take place on 28 August at the community’s Batten Road facilities; the revived Italian Cultural Festival to be held in September; and the Oktoberfest.
Because of the support provided under the sponsorship program by the NT government, it has been possible for the Indian Cultural Society and Tracks Dance, with support from the Sri Lanka Australia Friendship Association, to bring exciting artists from India and Sri Lanka to participate at this year’s Darwin Festival.
Madam Speaker, last evening I had the pleasure of hosting members of the Indian and Sri Lankan communities living in Darwin at a function in the Main Hall. I was very impressed with the two items that these visiting artists performed for invited guests. The Purna Das Baul Group from India has completed its performances and were enthusiastically received by audiences in Darwin and Arnhem Land at the Garma Festival. The Sama Ballet Dancers from Sri Lanka will be performing alongside the Tracks Dance Company dancers when they present Snakes, Gods and Deities at Garden’s Park Golf Links from tomorrow. I urge members of this House to see this great performance.
In the budget that was presented in May of this year, the NT government provided the sum of $0.5m per annum for three years to assist ethnic communities to renovate and upgrade existing facilities. This latest initiative establishes a dedicated, transparent program which will be supported by detailed eligibility and acquittal criteria. The government has recently called for expressions of interest under this program and it is hoped to allocate funds to qualified community groups by the end of this calendar year.
I am proud of the support that this government has provided ethnic communities since it came to office in August 2001. I assure all these communities that our government will continue its efforts to improve the quality of life in the Territory by promoting a truly multicultural lifestyle.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I congratulate the minister for his report and share in his enthusiasm for the ethnic communities in the Northern Territory. I have noticed that this government has continued the good work that the CLP government did in previous years.
The Barrio festival is a very significant festival for the Filipino community. It is a pity that the Alice Springs community, which wanted to join with the Darwin Filipino community to enjoy the Barrio festival, have not been able to get here due to lack of funds. Some 80 people are interested in coming to Darwin, and I suggest to the minister that he considers this and assists the Alice Springs community to come to next year’s Barrio festival so that the whole of the Territory celebrates this Filipino event, rather than just the northern suburbs.
I congratulate the Australian Darwin Cantonese Opera Association for putting on the Yue Ju Chinese opera last weekend. In my youth, I recall turning up for similar shows in Malaysia. They are the community highlight every so often when they turn up.
In closing, I also congratulate the Northern Territory Dragon Boat Association, which started as an ethnic community event some six years ago under the auspices of the Chung Wah Society. They are sending a team of paddlers to Shanghai to compete in the world championships this year to compete as the representative team from Australia wearing the green and gold. From a little community event, it is now a mainstream sport and we have Australian representatives in an international championship. That is terrific.
Mr VATSKALIS (Ethnic Affairs): Madam Speaker, it is great to have bipartisan support for our multicultural society. I agree with the member for Greatorex: I would like to see the Filipino community of Alice Springs come to Darwin. When I was in Alice Springs I met with them. They advised me that the cost was significant. We suggested a different way of coming to Darwin, by chartering a bus, and we offered to provide funding to allow people to come to Darwin by paying about $40 or $50 each for the return trip. I believe that the community is negotiating the situation and, hopefully, with assistance from government, will be able to take part in the Barrio Fiesta.
I congratulate the Chinese community because bringing the Cantonese opera to Darwin is significant. It is one way of showing the culture and the cultural achievements of the Chinese community in China to a broader audience.
I wish good luck to all the participants in the Dragon Boat races when the team competes in China. Our government and I, personally, will support every ethnic community and communities of a non-English speaking background.
Reports noted pursuant to Sessional Order.
PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 222)
(Serial 222)
Continued from 20 May 2004.
Mr BALDWIN (Daly): Madam Speaker, I should say at the outset that we will not be supporting this amendment to the Parks and Wildlife Commission Act because we would not be moving in the way that the Labor government has moved in regard to Parks and Wildlife, and that is to consume it into a mega-department, being Infrastructure, Planning and Environment.
We would, and, I am sure the Leader of the Opposition will reinforce this, in the future, as a government, reinstate the autonomy of the Parks and Wildlife Commission as a separate entity, certainly with a board of commissioners because we believe that is the right model for an entity to be looking after the interests of our parks estate. That has always been our view on Parks and Wildlife and the Commission.
This amendment to the act draws the assumption that, as a consequence of the reorganisation of the public sector and the administrative arrangements, the Parks and Wildlife area was taken into Infrastructure, Planning and Environment and that has led to a potential governance issue. That is why there is a need for this amendment.
Minister, had you not pulled Parks and Wildlife into the mega-department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, you would not have this governance issue. It is by your actions that you have to amend the Parks and Wildlife Act to reconstitute the Commission board, which has, until you came to government, acted in a very positive and effective manner for many years. It has evolved as a board with a lot of powers and has seen some pre-eminent board members, not to mention chairpersons of that Commission. Harry Butler, in times gone past, delivered independent advice to government and was never backward in coming forward, publicly even, to give that advice on behalf of all Territorians and, importantly, the parks estate.
What you have done, since coming to government, is get rid of that. You have now found you have a governance issue because you have dragged this into a mega-department and, I might add, by doing so, upset morale of the staff within the area of Parks and Wildlife. You have also deprived yourself of good, independent advice to government; people like Galarrwuy Yunupingu served on that Commission as a board member appointed by government. All sorts of people over time have sat on the board, a board with powers and functions in its own right, a board that had to meet four times a year. Tell me whether they have still been meeting four times a year, or have you been negligent in respect of the act, which you come in here to amend?
What is your answer? You have found yourself with potential governance issues; you want to make the Chief Executive Officer ‘the commission’. You can have his advice by picking up the telephone any given day at any given hour. If you are looking for a good, effective, transparent way of running our parks estate, surely you would have kept the advice of independent members of a commission that had certain powers, and powers that were not insubstantial; they were quite well laid out as functions of the commission. They are all outlined in the act:
- (a) to promote the conservation and protection of the natural environment of the Territory –
- (i) by managing or participating in the management of –
(A) parks, reserves
and sanctuaries established under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act …; and
(B) other land by agreement with the owners or occupiers of that land; and
(ii) by the promotion, and the enforcement where necessary, of the protection, conservation and sustainable use of wildlife, whether on such parks, reserves or sanctuaries or elsewhere in the Territory …
This amendment, you say, is an interim measure and that, in future, there will be all sorts of amendments to the act to provide what you claim to be a suitable way of managing our parks estate, whereas the commission was set up as a body corporate for perpetual succession.
What you are doing now by reconstituting the commission is to make the CEO, in effect, ‘the commission’. I noticed in your second reading speech you included all sorts of other issues about how that model exists within the Department of Employment, Education and Training in which the Chief Executive Officer of DEET is ‘the Work Health Authority’. I myself oversaw the same thing at the Housing Commission and made the Chief Executive Officer ‘the Housing Commission’.
In terms of the parks estate, which is owned entirely by the people of the Northern Territory, you have chosen to get rid of advisors who, in the past, have shown how effective they can be, and how they can change the will of government by the very powers and functions with which they have been vested under this act, and by publicly demonstrating that they have, in the past, had the parks estate at heart, first and foremost.
If you put it in that context, then look at what is going on with the parks framework agreement, anyone with reasonable logic would have to think that this is the most important time when government, your government, should have good independent advice; when you are moving to hand over parks, which are currently owned by all Territorians, to the interests of traditional owners.
Would you not think that this is the very time that you should be having good, solid advice? What do you do? Scrap it. You are scrapping it to the Chief Executive Officer of the department. Where is your advice from independent people who have powers and functions vested in them to look after, first and foremost, the interests of our parks and wildlife; our flora and fauna; our parks estate; the future development of the parks estate; and the impact of changes on the parks estate? Surely, this is the time, like no other, that you would want good, independent advice. For three years, you have not had that advice, and now you are going to get rid of the board because you have found yourself in a conundrum. You have decided to whack Parks and Wildlife into this mega-department. You have decreased the morale of everyone working there and you now have a governance issue.
Do you know the simple answer rather than this amendment? Extract them. Make them a stand-alone department. Reinstate the commission, and then you will not need this useless amendment. That is what we will do because that is what we think of the parks estate and the advice of pre-eminent people who have long experience in land matters, conservation matters and flora and fauna protection. That is what we would do.
Because you have a governance issue, you want to downgrade the level of advice, collapse this and, in the future, if I am reading your second reading speech correctly, get rid of it. That, to us, is not on. That is why we are going to oppose this. It is a very logical argument. I know you will not agree with it, but that is our position. That is the difference between the CLP and Labor. You do not want anyone knowing what you are doing with the parks. You do not want independent advice about what you are doing with the …
Dr Burns: You did not want to know; you did not ask for a briefing.
Mr BALDWIN: I have had the briefing. I have had the briefing from the Chief Minister. That is what you know. I have had the briefing.
That is where we are coming from. You do not want the advice; you do not want people to know. Remember in Estimates, minister, I asked you whether parks were a part of the Territory lifestyle. Remember your banner ‘Jobs and lifestyle’ and all the rest of it? I asked you where it was in any of your budget papers or any of your speeches that you had highlighted for Territorians the fact that you were handing over parks, that you were giving away their ownership of some of their parks estate. You answered: ‘It is not in there, but we will make them aware’. Well, I have not heard it.
There is no way that we would support this. We certainly will be moving, when we are in government, to reinstate it. There is much to be said for the way the commission was structured under our tenure; was for a period under yours, but is now defunct. I suggest to you that it became a leading-edge model around Australia, if not internationally.
Where else? You can name them. Where else did anyone have that model under which a commission, a board of people, had an undisputed, fair degree of autonomy as set out in the Parks and Wildlife Act that it could involve itself in the management of parks, which it did? This is just rude to Territorians. It is rude to the passionate people who work in Parks and Wildlife, about the degree of autonomy that they have lost since you have come to government. Now they are going to further lose that degree. What are you going to do? What are you going to do to ameliorate that? You are going to set up an advisory council. The bill says:
(1) The minister must establish a council to advise the Commission on matters concerning the management of parks and wildlife.
(2) The members of the council must be appointed by the minister and must be persons who have an interest or expertise and knowledge in matters relating to the environment and the management of conservation of natural resources.
What are their powers and functions compared with the ones you are getting rid of? All the bill says is that they will advise. They will advise the commission, now being the CEO, one person. He does not have to take their advice. They have no other powers except to provide the advice. It does not say anything within your amendments to the act about how many times they have to meet. What jumps out is that there is no time line on when you have to form this advisory committee. It just says ‘the minister must’. It does not say when, just that you must.
I assume, being the cynical person I am, that you will not be seeking any advice until at least 31 December when the Chief Minister’s Parks Framework Bill either is taken up as an offer or the act expires at that date. You will not be seeking any advice from anyone because you do not want it. You have an agenda to hand over our parks without consultation, without making Territorians aware; certainly not highlighted as a new lifestyle initiative in any of your budget papers, and you will not be seeking any advice from independent, eminent people on your government’s proposal, an offer that is currently on the table for the land councils to give away a plethora of parks and to enter …
Dr Burns: No one is giving away anything!
Mr BALDWIN: You are! They are currently owned by whom, minister, picking up on your interjection, that you are not giving away anything?
Dr Burns: No one is giving away anything.
Mr BALDWIN: Currently, they are owned by all Territorians …
Dr Burns: Stop all your scare tactics!
Mr BALDWIN: … and you are the landlord!
Dr Burns: Pathetic!
Mr BALDWIN: You are the landlord! Here you are making an offer. The offer is sitting in this House of parliament, to traditional owners to give it to them! Give it to them!
Mr Henderson: Rubbish!
Mr BALDWIN: Are we selling it? ‘Rubbish’, they say, Madam Speaker! Can I ask the simple question: how much are Territorians being paid for these parks that we are handing over to them? How much are we being paid?
Dr Burns: How much did you pay for the Kenbi Land claim?
Mr BALDWIN: And they talk about the Kenbi land claim!
Dr Burns: $20m!
Mr BALDWIN: Have they resolved the Kenbi land claim, Madam Speaker?
Dr Burns: What about the Borroloola claims? Still grinding on!
Mr BALDWIN: They talk eloquently about litigation, but let us have a look at this offer.
Dr Burns: You would rather put the money in lawyers’ pockets!
Mr BALDWIN: Let us have a look at this offer. How many parks have you taken out of this offer? Why? You want to litigate them!
Dr Burns: Squandering money! That is all the CLP ever did!
Mr BALDWIN: They wanted to litigate them! So on the one hand ...
Dr Burns: Squandering it on bloody lawyers!
Mr BALDWIN: … on the one hand ...
Mr BURKE: A point of order, Madam Speaker. I would ask the minister to withdraw or either put that comment by substantive motion to suggest that the CLP was somehow laundering money.
Dr BURNS: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker, I said ‘squandering’, not ‘laundering’.
Madam SPEAKER: In that case, there is no point of order. Minister, you should refrain from interjecting. Allow the member for Daly to complete his remarks.
Dr Burns: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Mr BALDWIN: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can speak in a loud voice if they want to interject because I invite them to if they think I am saying the wrong thing, but I am telling you what we believe.
In terms of the offer on the table, they made a lot of play about: ‘We will not do what the CLP did and waste millions on litigating in court’, yet at the same time they have the offer on the table, we have discovered, not just on parks but other land issues, that they are indeed litigating against native title claimants and land councils in matters relating to land.
It is a nice spin to say that millions have been spent, but we do not stand back from the fact that millions may have been spent in the interests of all Territorians. The parks offer they are talking about is taking away what is currently owned by all Territorians and giving it - there are no other words for it - to traditional owners of the Northern Territory. That has a long way to go. They are having their problems with the offer and there have been a number of parks withdrawn from the offer. The traditional owners and government will now have to litigate.
The question of cost arises. We have asked this question many times, and I asked at the briefing from the Chief Minister: what is the value of the parks that have been given away? The Chief Minister refuses to answer that question …
Ms Martin: On what basis? R4, perhaps?
Mr BALDWIN: What basis? What basis?
Ms Martin: Do you want an R4 valuation, Tim? Come on, Tim!
Mr BALDWIN: I have said many times in the debate on the previous legislation that all land can be valued. The Australian Valuation Office will give a valuation on anything you like. If you want a valuation on the stationery on your desk, they will value it. If you want it on land that is owned by the Northern Territory government, they will give you a valuation.
The Chief Minister and the minister for Parks, time and time again, when asked about the value of the land that is being handed over, that is currently owned by all Territorians, are silent because they do not want Territorians to know the value of this offer. Yet at the same time, they say the Australian Valuation Office can determine a lease payment on all of the parks they have on offer to hand over.
If the Australian Valuation Office can determine a value on the lease, which one would assume is based on the value of the land, why not tell Territorians the value of the land, the parks that you are taking away from them, and giving to traditional owners? Territorians have a right to know. When we talk about lease payments, because the offer is about leasing these parks and reserves back from the traditional owners, we have not heard one bit of information from government about the cost. All the Chief Minister keeps saying is: ‘The CLP did it with Nitmiluk’. Yes, we did. How much was that? Chief Minister, I think you said on radio about $150 000 …
Ms Martin: $140 000, I think.
Mr BALDWIN: $140 000 or $150 000, I think you said on radio.
Ms Martin: $140 000. It was a deal you did.
Mr BALDWIN: $140 000. I will use your figures; you do the maths. $140 000 for Nitmiluk. How many parks and reserves are you talking about giving away? How many parks and reserves, Madam Speaker, is the Chief Minister talking about giving away? $150 000 minimum annual rent times 99 years. How much do yo think that is going to cost Territorians? Do the maths! It is hundreds of millions of dollars …
Mr Henderson: Oh, rubbish!
Mr BALDWIN: Okay. Let’s do the maths. Is it 20 parks? Let us add up the schedule. How many parks and reserves are we talking about? Let us say it is 20 that you end up with, so 20 by $150 000 a year. How much is that? $3m per year times 99 years, say 100, take off three, that is $297m. $297m it will cost Territorians for land and an asset and a parks estate that they already own. They already own it, Madam Speaker! So if you want to talk about costs, you put the money on the table. I can only go on my own calculations, and they may well be wrong.
They refuse to put costs to Territorians on the table, and it is time that they did. 31 December is drawing very near. At 31 December, the Chief Minister will inform us, Territorians, that she is either giving away our parks, or that the bill expires and the land councils will not take up the offer. However, she must, before that time, tell Territorians what this offer of hers is going to cost.
Please, while you are on your feet, minister, wrapping up this debate, tell us who is advising you. You want to get rid of the only advice that was available to you outside of your department, good advice, and you want to get rid of it. In the context of the biggest upheaval to the parks estate yet facing Territorians, you walk in here with this amendment because you have a potential governance issue and you want to get rid of good advice and good advisors.
You are pathetic, and that is why we oppose it. This is a model that worked, it is a model that has been at the forefront of models anywhere, particularly in Australia, probably internationally. It has worked to give good advice over many years, including all of the impacts on the parks estate, not just tourism, but native title and Aboriginal cultural issues. There have been some pre-eminent people who have been well versed in Aboriginal cultural issues giving government advice, and now you have sacked them. You are going to go back to ‘the commission’ being the CEO. How bloody pathetic and incompetent could a government be to get rid of them? That is totally disrespectful to Northern Territorians. On that basis, Madam Speaker, we will not be supporting this amendment.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, now we have it in writing, in a second reading speech from the minister responsible for Parks and Wildlife, no less: public service process beats performance and experience any day of the week; a single public servant is better than any number of ordinary people irrespective of their qualifications and skills any day of the week; one public service department is the same as any other. They are administrative units that can be run according to the handbook of centralised authority; and there is no need for any particular expertise, even in such a specialised area like Parks and Wildlife.
It is a funny thing, minister, there used to be a difference. As Labor tries to rewrite Territory history to expunge the huge successes of CLP governments, along with any allegiance to the flag, it wants Territorians to forget just how well things worked when there was a genuine partnership between government and the community. One of the first initiatives of the CLP government at the time of self-government was to establish the Conservation Commission to reflect the Territory’s focus on conserving our natural heritage for long term profit, not exploiting it for short term gain.
The Conservation Commission eventually evolved into the Parks and Wildlife Commission, or Service, but its role was much the same. The CLP believed tourism was the first major new industry to be developed in the new Northern Territory. We believed then, and we still do, that our network of national parks was the basis for that tourism industry. Parks are the backbone of our tourism industry. The founders of the Territory and the Conservation Commission recognised this. Research now shows this to be true. Around 70% of tourists now come to look at our parks. Sadly, Labor does not share this view; that good management and access to parks are important.
Since coming to power, the ALP has launched a systematic campaign against our parks. The CLP recognises that running those parks properly, safeguarding the diverse range of flora, fauna and natural attractions, was a huge job. Take a visit to some of these parks; notice the decline. They have deteriorated under this government. It is a huge job needing the expertise of people with skills as diverse as the topography of the parks themselves.
That is why members of the Parks and Wildlife Board or Commission were such an illustrious group: There was Harry Butler of In the Wild fame; Bill Freeland, an eminent scientist with a worldwide reputation, who Labor sacked last year as head of the Parks and Wildlife Commission because he did not fit the ‘one size fits all’ public service and its political commissars; Wenten Rubuntja and Galarrwuy Yunupingu at different times. Apart from serving as Chairman of the Central and Northern Land Councils respectively, these men had enormous knowledge and skill to contribute, built up over generations of their immediate families being in leadership roles in the Aboriginal community. They could give a whole new dimension to the phrase ‘looking after country’.
There was Keith Lansdowne, a cattleman and long-time Chairman of the Pastoral Land Board and Chairman of Katherine Rural College, a man who obviously new the country like the back of his hand. It was also very handy knowledge to have, especially when you consider that some of our most important parks were originally pastoral leases. There is plenty of interplay between the cattle industry and our parks estate. There was Ian Barker QC, a prominent member of the old NT Reserves Board, and one of a small group of Territorians who were instrumental in the establishment of Kakadu National Park. There was Patty Buntine, widow of Territory trucking legend Noel Buntine, who was particularly effective as a community representative on the governing body of our parks.
Reg Harris was another, and there were eminent scientists like Peter Whitehead and Peter Bridgewater who, I believe, is now on the world body charged with preserving whale species. They were not light weights, these people who gave us this precious legacy of our parks estate.
It took years, a lot skill and hard work to build up the network of parks we now have. Now this government is negotiating a massive park give-away. The Chief Minister’s claim is that to do it her way will be cheaper. Please explain to me how it will be cost effective to give away a park that you already own, that has no prospect or possibility of a claim being successful against it, and then paying to lease it back.
It is interesting to note that the Chief Minister can find the money to fight her own and the Minister for Community Development’s defamation cases, but it is all too hard and expensive to fight to keep ownership of our parks and put claims against the Northern Territory people to a vigorous test with Labor’s ham-fisted approach that is quickly unravelling. I will add: our parks estate is clearly heading for uncharted and troubled waters.
We need the expertise of the Parks and Wildlife Commission of old as we have never needed it before. What do we get? A single public service boss, already stretched trying to administer the biggest of Labor’s super-departments, will be the sole CEO of the Parks and Wildlife Service or whatever Labor decides to call it in the end.
The minister used a lot of weasel words in his second reading speech on 20 May this year. He tried to misrepresent the truth and that is, sadly, par for the course. He talked about the Parks and Reserves (Framework for the Future) Act introduced in November 2003, and then went on:
- As an interim measure, these amendments do not dissolve the Parks and Wildlife Commission; they reconstitute it in a way in which the chief executive of the department is responsible for administering the act and, in effect, becomes a commission.
So we have it: a one public servant commission. This is from our open, transparent and accountable government, which is very much into partnerships with the community. There is going to be an advisory body to advise this super public servant, but it is a toothless mouth. It can talk, but it cannot bite. Before Labor, Parks and Wildlife commissioners had real power. The Chief Executive had to take direction on policy from the commissioners; had to, not just if he or she felt like it.
When Harry Butler, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Keith Landsdowne, Reg Harris and the rest of these eminent people spoke, the public servant running the show had to sit and listen and then act according to lawful directions. The only person this commission made up of a single public servant has to answer to is the minister, and I do not think the minister is all that knowledgeable on national parks. During budget Estimates, he demonstrated he was particularly ignorant on implications of native title legislation as well as the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act of 1976. His answers to the member for Brennan at that time were along the lines that lawyers in the Department of Justice know all about that sort of stuff and these anonymous lawyers would safeguard the Territory’s interests. This is at a time when native title is being tested over some of our most important parks.
The minister does not have a clue and the one person commission does not have a background in nature conservation, tourism, law or land rights; just in administration. So what should be done? The minister and his Labor government’s folly, and its lack of respect for our greatest natural asset, is clear for all to see. How can it be remedied?
In government, the CLP will begin by reinstating the Parks and Wildlife Commission Board. We will appoint independent experts to that panel. It is the view of Labor, as always, that the best man for the job is a bureaucrat. We disagree. We believe that the experts of the ilk that we have had on the board in the past are the right people for the job. The CLP will give identity back to the department. We will give them back their uniform, the uniform that identifies them in the important and prestigious department that they are in. We will return their identity. We will give Parks and Wildlife the funding and resourcing that it so richly deserves. We will fill the vacant range of positions and make this profession one that is sought after and envied again.
Madam Speaker, I cannot support this bill, nor can the opposition. It takes the management of our parks away from passionate Territorians and experts in their fields and puts it in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats. It gives the power to manage our parks estate to an individual who has no experience in the field. It replaces the board with a toothless advisory group, and it shows this Labor government’s contempt for Territorians and their parks estate.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, my first note on this bill reads: ‘How come only one person can be the commission?’ That sounds alarm bells for me. I have never been a supporter of Parks and Wildlife belonging to the DBIRD super department. I have always felt …
Ms Martin: Sorry, Gerry. DIPE.
Mr Dunham: Like its minister, dippy.
Mr WOOD: I have always …
Mr Dunham: Dippy the dipstick.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, the member for Nelson has the floor.
Mr Dunham: Yes, no worries, Madam Speaker.
Mr WOOD: This is no put down of people who have been in charge of that department, but I have always felt that it is difficult for someone like an engineer or someone who has experience in statistics or public accounts to have an understanding of a department like Parks and Wildlife.
I have always believed that it is an extremely important department and, if anything, I have argued that in some cases we should have had a single Department of the Environment. At least if it came under that department, it would put all relevant issues in one department. Be that as it may, I have not agreed with it being in a great conglomerate that deals with engineering, roads and so on. I believe it is important enough to be on its own.
Be that as it may, there have been comments made about other issues relating to the parks. This amendment has allowed people to speak on other issues, especially the future of our parks. I have debated the issue in parliament before. I welcome more debate on it, but in this case I do not need to comment more than I have in the past.
The commission would be far better if it were as it used to be. I understand the minister has an advisory council. I presume he is saying the council would replace the board. I am coming more from a philosophical point of view: the Parks and Wildlife Commission should be a commission that has a fair amount of autonomy, one that is directly responsible to the minister rather than a large department. That would put our parks and wildlife on a pedestal. In the community in years gone by, Parks and Wildlife was a place that many people would aspire to work in. Rangers were something that many people wanted to be. I am not sure that is so much the case these days.
I would like to see Parks and Wildlife put back into our community as something that we, as Territorians, can be proud. It was something that many people outside of the Territory saw as a wise body that had conservation as its prime goal, and looked at innovative ways of managing our wildlife and conservation estate. For those reasons alone, I will not support this bill.
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, I support the bill. I would like to point out another extraordinary performance by the Leader of the Opposition, who started his address by extensively quoting from the minister’s second reading speech. I have the second reading speech here and I am trying to find the quote; it is not there. I suggest that the Leader of the Opposition has a look at the minister’s second reading speech, then find what he quoted and where it came from.
It is very interesting. We are discussing amendments to parks and wildlife legislation, but it became an opportunity for the members of the opposition to attack the government about joint management and the park issues that will up come later this year. The reality is if we go back to the park issue, the Ward High Court decision of last year held that the declaration of the Keep River National Park was invalid and the finding is a result of the wording of section 12(1) of the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, which only provided, until it was amended in March 1998, that:
- An area of land can only be declared as a park or reserve if all the right title and interests in that land is vested in the Territory or if no person, either the Territory or the Conservation Land Corporation, holds a right, title or interest in that land.
Madam Speaker, as a result of that decision, we found that a number of parks declared as parks between 1978 and 1998 were invalid; 49 parks. Not one, not two, not three; 49. Not only that, apart from the parks and reserves that were declared invalid, there were some 11 separate areas of land that had previously been claimed under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act and to which the Conservation Land Corporation had no tenure other than pursuant to section 12. There were problems with declaration of the parks. A High Court decision declared these parks invalid. We had to do something. There were two options: go to court or negotiate.
At the time, the Leader of the Opposition received a briefing and he questioned the advice that the government received from the Solicitor-General. He was advised that the government had sought advice not only from the Solicitor-General, but also from a second counsel, an external counsel. The second opinion not only supported the Solicitor-General’s advice, but did so in more firm and clearer terms regarding the invalidity of the parks. Again, we either had to start paying lawyers, as with the Kenbi Land claim, $20m over 10 years, or sit down with traditional owners and negotiate.
It is not only lawyers who give us this kind of opinion and support the view of the High Court that the parks declaration was invalid, but there are some former members of the public service who have made statements about it. I quote from a paper written by Col Fuller, which was published on the web site of the Darwin Research Centre last year. In his paper, Mr Fuller said:
- A cursory review of the Northern Territory parks estate is sufficient to show that in most locations Aboriginal traditional owners have a legitimate interest, often legally documented.
So even Fuller admits that, in some cases of the Territory parks estate, Aboriginal people have an interest. Not only that, but Mr Fuller, together with Matti Urvett, we all know who they are, ex-public servants, wrote to the Northern Territory government in November 2002 and they said, with regards to joint management:
- This form of park management is highly desirable because, apart from recognising the legitimate interests of Aboriginal traditional owners, it introduces a new dimension into the style of park management and greatly enhances that visitor experience.
I do not have to agree totally with Mr Fuller on politics, but least the man is brave. He states the obvious, he states the truth and he is not afraid to publish it on a web site that could not be called a left wing web site, or even a Labor Party sympathetic web site. It was published on the site of the Darwin Research Centre. Mr Fuller also says that:
- Recognition, for example, is rarely given to the fact that the Aboriginal interest in a particular area is very personal and based on tribal culture and history, and should not be diminished as part of a corporate objective.
Mr Fuller clearly states, in his words, exactly what the High Court recognised and what the government is trying to do. We are trying to get out of this difficult issue through negotiation rather than litigation. After all, it is not our money; it is taxpayers’ money and we have to be very careful not to throw it away.
We heard from the members of the opposition about how the parks have been deteriorating. Well, there is a problem there. We have Commonwealth ministers who complain bitterly about how visitors come to the Territory, visit parks and do not visit Kakadu. As a result, the number of visitors in Kakadu is falling, while visitors to our parks are going up and up all the time. It would only take a walk down Mitchell Street, where the tourists and operators are, to determine the opinion of these people with regards to our parks. I had people staying with me who went to Litchfield and came away with the best impressions: it is a fantastic place, there is a variety of landscapes, they can swim safely, they can drive there, there is no problem and they do not have to pay an entry fee.
Kakadu visitation has started to go up thanks to the advertising campaign, but until recently, Kakadu visitor numbers were looking very grim. Now they are going up, thanks to the recent campaign, and our promise that we are prepared to put money towards advertising Kakadu if the Commonwealth is prepared to do the same.
This legislation, which my colleague, the member for Johnston, Minister for Parks and Wildlife, has introduced, is bridging legislation until final issues about park joint management are finalised. Members of the opposition question the ability of the CEO to be a sole person commission. The reality is the CEO is supported by a large number of public servants and scientists who will provide the best advice. Parks and Wildlife people are fantastic people, starting from the admin officers to the rangers to the scientists. Nothing has changed in the past few years. We have not got rid of the rangers or the scientists. Instead, we have employed the best people for the job in Parks and Wildlife, and these people are prepared and aim to provide quality advice on various issues to the CEO.
There will be an advisory board that will provide advice to the CEO. The CEO has to consider this advice, and the CEO has to act on this advice. Now, all the advice we get from advisory boards might not be perfect, it might not be to the best of the members’ of that board’s ability to provide advice but, once again, this advice has to be discussed and has to be considered with advice of the scientists before the CEO acts. You do not have to have a ranger as CEO. You do not have to have a qualified scientist as the CEO to manage the Parks and Wildlife Commission at this stage. After all, the CEO of the Health Department does not have to be a doctor. He receives advice from his officers, scientists, doctors and the Health Department personnel to act in the best interests of the department and Territorians.
I support this legislation. After all, it is an amendment that will bridge the gap between now and the end of the year when the joint management of parks issue will come before us. The opposition has used this legislation to attack the government about the parks issue when they know very well that they are wrong. It was interesting to hear the Leader of the Opposition saying that when they come to government, they will do this, this and this with the Parks and Wildlife Commission. Not once did he say: ‘When we come to government, we are going to challenge this decision of the government; we are going to take the parks back’ because he knows he cannot do that. He knows that the High Court decision was a wise, true, good and very strong decision. He knows it does not matter when he comes to government - if he comes to government - he has to live with the decision of the High Court, and with the situation that Aboriginal people have legitimate interests in these parks. For us to challenge this interest in a court is a waste of time and money.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): I pick up on one point, Madam Speaker, from the minister who just sat down.
The reason we cannot take back the parks estate is twofold: by the time you have given it away, it will be somebody else’s property; it will be privately owned. To acquire somebody else’s property, under the terms of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act, you have to pay compensation on just terms. The fact is that the value of this parks estate is probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We, as a future government, cannot commit to the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars to buy back something that the Territory already owns because to do so would be absolutely and fundamentally irresponsible.
The second issue is that we own the parks estate. It is the possession of all Territorians. What is happening is this government is reneging on a very important promise. They promised, prior to the last election, that there would be no privatisation of any assets. This is privatisation of an asset because it is going to end up in private hands. The names of the title deeds will be individual people who own this property under their new form of parks freehold title.
The minister said the reason the CLP cannot say that they will take back the parks estate is because we cannot unless we commit ourselves to expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars. That is the value of what is being given away. It is churlish in the extreme for the minister to say we are going to do it because it is a wise decision. It is an unwise decision, and part of reason is that it is a decision that cannot be reversed. That is the reason it is an unwise decision.
We do not sit on this side of the House and say this is a wise decision but we are going to be churlish about it; we are trying to save the loss of a major asset from publicly-owned hands, oddly enough, into private hands, which would be, in any other circumstances considering political persuasions of both parties in this case, an absurd situation.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Madam Speaker, today I speak against the Parks and Wildlife Commission Amendment Bill.
When I arrived in Katherine in 1989, I became acquainted with the Parks and Wildlife Commission in the Northern Territory for the first time and was impressed with their professionalism and dedication. Nothing has changed since then. I also became aware that Katherine was placed in the centre of, and near, some of the most beautiful parks in not only the Northern Territory, but Australia.
In 1993, my husband and I purchased a tourist park in Katherine and, of course, became even more aware of the importance of the park system surrounding Katherine, and realised at that time just how much they are valued by the tourism industry. In 1993, I also became the chair of the Katherine Region Tourism Association and we on the executive spent a considerable time marketing the parks around Katherine and the Northern Territory. The Katherine region covers some 400 000 km and we always marketed it as being the last great outback adventure for tourists to visit and utilise our parks.
A high percentage of tourists come to the Northern Territory to experience the parks and to get away from it all. They want to get away from a lot of other tourists, if they can, and camp in way out places and experience the bush. They also want to experience the great flora and fauna that we are fortunate to have in our parks and our river systems. Why do you think we have had them there? Because we have had great management by the Parks and Wildlife Commission over the years with a great understanding of what happens within those park systems.
I have never had any doubt about management of the parks considering the quality and experience of members of the board, which consisted of people with vast experience of the land and the Northern Territory. I know Keith Lansdowne who is a very experienced cattleman and man of the land. Patty Buntine is a highly respected community representative in Katherine and has vast experience of the land and the parks system around the Northern Territory. I cannot fail to mention the most well known person of all, Harry Butler, who is very passionate about the environment.
I am always wary and sceptical about underlying motives when the advice and counsel of experienced people is not only ignored and, in this case, we are discussing the Parks and Wildlife management board, but I am also concerned when these are discarded and replaced by a CEO, a person who is going to take the advice of an advisory board.
The minister in his second reading speech, said:
- The formal powers, functions and responsibilities of the commission have become redundant as a consequence of the reorganisation of the public sector.
That is a very sad state of affairs, that the Parks and Wildlife Commission is redundant, particularly when I consider over the years the expertise and experience, the knowledge these people have and the commitment they made to their work.
The Minister for Parks and Wildlife would do well to go back to the drawing board, but considering he has gone this far, he probably cannot back down now. It will be up to the CLP, when we return to government, to reinstate the Parks and Wildlife Commission to its rightful status, administering parks in the Northern Territory - that is, of course, if we have any left, Madam Speaker. I do not support this bill.
Dr BURNS (Parks and Wildlife): Madam Speaker, what a performance by the opposition. As I foreshadowed in my second reading speech, this amendment is all about correcting an administrative anomaly, but it has turned in to a giant conspiracy theory.
At the outset of my reply, I place on the record, first, that there is no conspiracy theory; and second, that I value the Parks and Wildlife Service and all the staff who serve therein. We have a very high calibre of staff doing an excellent job sometimes in very lonely and remote areas. There is a great body of expertise in there and a great love of the service and what the service is doing.
It offended me to hear the Leader of the Opposition allege that I said things in my second reading speech that I did not say at all. The Leader of the Opposition needs to have a reality check. This is desperation stakes. He is trying to make an impact but he is clutching at straws. To infer that I am disinterested in parks and wildlife and the parks estate within the Northern Territory is absolutely fatuous. To say that there is some sort of conspiracy theory, that I am not going to listen to advice from the advisory council is assuming a lot. I am a minister who listens to advice from all areas and I will certainly be listening to the advice of this advisory council.
Let us look at the composition of the advisory council. The council shall consist of an independent chairperson with acknowledged expertise in conservation and/or park management. Second, the chief executive officer of the relevant agency responsible for the administration of the Parks and Wildlife Commission; third, two Aboriginal persons with wide experience in indigenous land management, parks and tourism; fourth, one person with special knowledge of Territory botany or zoology; fifth, one person with special knowledge of Northern Territory natural resource management; sixth, one person with knowledge and expertise in conservation and park matters to represent community environmental interests; seventh, one person with knowledge and expertise in conservation and park matters with experience in the pastoral industry; eighth, one person with wide expertise and experience in the Northern Territory tourism industry to provide a tour operator’s perspective; and, finally, one Commonwealth employee representing Parks Australia.
That is a wide representative body with the opportunity for government to appoint eminent people in their fields. I accept what the opposition said about the past; people like Harry Butler, Mrs Buntine and all the other people you mentioned. Sure, they made a fantastic contribution over the years, but let us not live in the past. There are contemporaneous people with an interest in these issues and we should tap into them. Let us acknowledge the contribution of those in the past, but let us move on.
There is an old saying in politics: the dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on. The opposition is still barking; the caravan has moved on. It has moved on in a couple of ways. First, there has been a High Court decision, the Ward case, which my colleague and predecessor, the member for Casuarina, mentioned. That had implications for our parks estate. This government acted to negotiate rather than litigate. We have seen the results of litigation over decades under the CLP. The Kenbi land claim, $20m, and what result did it achieve? It made a few people rich, I suppose, but it set up a whole range of antipathy and bad feeling. It was not successful in any way.
I will mention the Borroloola land claim, although I will be careful because there is litigation on foot, but the CLP, many years ago, set up a situation that this government is still trying to redress in which they did a land deal with a land claim pending and, basically, we are still trying to pick up the pieces of that. They can go down the path of litigation if they wish, but I say it is a fruitless path that will bear only antipathy and bad feeling.
The CLP’s line is: you are giving away the parks estate. We are not giving away the parks estate; we are entering into arrangements and negotiations with traditional owners that will benefit all Territorians. The parks estate will be increased. There will be joint management and that is a step forward for the Northern Territory.
If the opposition wants to talk about morale among parks service staff, I have heard from a number of officers that they felt constrained under the CLP about how far they could go in their relationships with traditional owners and moving on. They felt that, in many cases, they were not able to speak freely and frankly with traditional owners. Let us not go with this CLP bunkum about morale in the service.
All this business about giving away parks - all we are doing is going down the same path as the CLP went with Nitmiluk. Is the CLP going to fess up now and say they gave away Nitmiluk? Did you give away Nitmiluk?
Mr Baldwin: No, the Lands Commissioner did.
Dr BURNS: No, you didn’t, and neither are we giving away our parks estate. Do not try to push a furphy in here; don’t try and push a false line.
Madam Speaker, I go to the Rapid Creek Markets every Sunday. I am someone who is available to people if they have problems or issues. There is only one person who has raised this issue of the parks framework with me. I think I saw him speaking to the member for Brennan out here at a seniors do. I will not mention the gentleman’s name. He has a particular bee in his bonnet about this, but he has been the only person who has come to me with concerns about this issue. So, the dog may bark, but the caravan has moved on. Territorians want a different era from confrontation and litigation under the CLP.
Mr Baldwin: Tell us about the cost while you are on your feet.
Dr BURNS: If you want to talk about giving away parks, let us talk about Djukbinj National Park on the Adelaide River. It is a better example of giving away parks. There was a pending land claim in 1991, and the CLP, if you want to say ‘gave away’, gave away that park without ever going to litigation. It was offered up prior to the claim reaching a hearing. So, what is the opposition going to do? Well, fair enough, they are saying, as part of CLP policy, if they were to be elected at the next election, they will set up an independent commission.
Will they go back to the litigation of the past? One would hope not. Territorians will see past the rhetoric and dog-whistling and what this government is doing is a positive way forward. It is going to increase the parks estate. It is going to involve Aboriginal people in a better way in the management of our parks, as did the Nitmiluk model, and it is going to be a great boon for tourism.
The opposition does not have a leg to stand on. They are trying to whip up conspiracy theories that do not exist, and trying to assert things about me and my management that do not exist either.
Dr Lim: Your management does not exist, that is true! Very true!
Dr BURNS: Thank you, member for Greatorex.
I appreciate what the member for Nelson said. He is talking about a more holistic approach to the whole issue of natural resource management, and that is something that I am open to and, as a government, we need to look forward to, not back to the past like the CLP. I am quite open to considering natural resource management frameworks. Of course, there is a parliamentary committee that is looking at the establishment of an EPA, something that this mob never did. They can talk about conservation values and everything that they did, but no EPA. We are the only jurisdiction in Australia that does not have one, and it was under this government that we are considering implementation of an EPA, but we will wait for the deliberations of the committee before we consider that.
In conclusion, I commend this bill to the House. The amendments are of an administrative nature. I completely refute the opposition’s assertions that somehow we are downgrading parks and the management of parks within the Northern Territory. I am and will remain vitally interested in our parks estate. I am carrying out a schedule of visitation of our parks and meeting the rangers. I am very keen. As a portfolio area, I am particularly interested in Parks and Wildlife, and I resent any assertion to the contrary by the opposition. The opposition has tried to draw red herrings in this debate, which has been futile. Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr BURKE (Brennan): Madam Speaker, I was going to make a few points, but I wanted to hear the minister’s comments first. If you talk about the dogs barking while the caravan moves on, minister, it is good to hear that the dog has a bit of bark in it this time because if you look at the transcripts of the Estimates proceedings, if you were the dog, it is like a dog with its larynx removed. Over the whole of that Estimates hearing, while we were asking questions about the parks handover, all we heard was, ‘Yip, yip, yip, I don’t know. This is a highly technical legal issue. It is not my responsibility; it is some other person’s portfolio’. It was absolutely disgraceful …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Brennan, cease. I gave you the call a bit too soon. We need the minister to actually seek leave to move that the bill be read a third time, and then to move it and then you can continue.
Mr BURKE: I was responding to your call, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Yes, I apologise.
Dr BURNS (Parks and Wildlife)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Mr BURKE (Brennan): Madam Speaker, shall I start again?
Madam SPEAKER: You are keen to speak, I know.
Mr BURKE: It was interesting in this debate that we get a patronising lecture from the former minister, the member for Casuarina, and the current minister giving us their expertise on native title issues and the parks handover. The expertise that the member for Casuarina exhibited in 2003 Estimates with regard to native title issues was this:
- In reality, it is their land. They own it; we cannot take it.
If ever there was an appalling example of a minister not understanding what native title involves, and the extent of native title as determined by the courts, it was that minister’s statement in those Estimates proceedings.
Unfortunately, one of the problems with native title and its inter-relationship with the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act is that it is and can be seen as quite complicated. However, one expects from a minister of the Crown who has carriage of the decision-making process, more understanding of native title than to make the throwaway comment: ‘It is their land; they own it; we cannot take it’ when the Native Title Act expressly provides that if Aboriginal interests are claimed and proved, those interests and the extent of them need to be determined and they sit alongside - equally or unequally, depending on the determination of the court - other interests; for example, pastoralists.
We questioned the current minister, the member for Johnston, on that issue at pages 36 to 37 of the daily transcript of proceedings of 24 June and further on. There is a clear indication that the minister either did not know the answer, which I believe is the correct interpretation, and filibustered for about three, four or five pages or more of the transcript, when we asked him whether he agreed with the comments of the previous minister.
Member for Johnston, as the minister with carriage of this legislation, you are asking us to have confidence in you and your understanding of the Native Title Act and the possible implications, intended or otherwise, for the Northern Territory government. You speak strongly saying that we have displayed only ignorance. All I say to you is if you honestly referred yourself to the Hansard of the Estimates proceedings, you would have to admit that your performance was absolutely appalling. To suggest that we should have confidence in your knowledge, leadership and ability of this issue is quite wrong and no one would interpret otherwise.
In fact, you went as far as to say that when it came to native title issues as they affected pastoral leases, it was ‘a highly technical issue and not within our portfolio area’. This was from the minister: ‘… not within our portfolio area’. The Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and the Environment, the landlord of pastoral leases in the Northern Territory, a person who has advice within his own department on these issues and they can advise him at any time on these issues, had the gall or the appalling ignorance to say in Estimates that these issues were not within his portfolio area.
Minister, you give us no confidence today that you understand the implications of native title; that you have any idea of what is occurring with the parks handover. Frankly, I have no confidence in the Chief Minister either on this issue. We have yet to hear from the Attorney-General, but it would appear that all of the expertise on this issue resides with his Department of Justice. By your own admission, lands minister, you were ignorant in Estimates on anything that is occurring on that issue.
You say that you are not giving away land. You have established at least eight portions of what is now Aboriginal Park Freehold land. That is land that has been taken away from the ownership of Territorians and vested under the ownership of Aboriginal claimants. That is the point that Territorians have yet to understand in this debate. They are not owners; they are claimants. The Native Title Act provides for ways in which these issues can be dealt. The point on which the CLP takes issue with the Labor government is that there was and remains no necessity to give away …
Ms Martin: What exactly were the Larrakia recognised for, Denis, when they got their land?
Mr BURKE: I can’t hear you, sorry. You are just mumbling. If you want to speak, speak louder, Chief Minister.
Ms Martin: I am just worried about your inconsistencies here.
Mr BURKE: There is no necessity for the Chief Minister and this government to give away parks that belong to Territorians under this guise of: ‘therefore we can set up joint management arrangements’. Joint management arrangements can be set up under existing provisions for the ownership of the land by all Territorians.
Mr Ah Kit: Aren’t Aboriginal people Territorians in your books?
Mr BURKE: All Territorians. The member for Arnhem says: ‘Aren’t Aboriginals all Territorians?’ Territorians need to know that they can deal freely with their land, freely, with about 5% of the land of the Northern Territory. They cannot deal freely with it except for about 95% of that land unless they consult with claimants under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act or the Native Title Act. That raises the question of: where is the justification for giving away more so that we have less than 5% of our land that we can deal with? Where is the justification for giving away Territory parks? Our parks …
Ms Lawrie: Not giving it away.
Mr BURKE: You are giving them away. The member for Karama says: ‘We are not giving away the parks’. You have given away a number of parks under a new title called Aboriginal Park Freehold. Look at your own Frameworks for the Future Bill.
There is no necessity to take that action. As the minister said, joint management arrangement have been put in place in the past, proudly by the CLP, and joint management arrangements, as spoken to by Mr Fuller, have a real place in the future management of our parks. There is no justification - and more and more Territorians are becoming aware of the fact that there is no justification - for giving away these parks under the guise that they were or would be under claim and this would cost the Territory millions of dollars.
What you should do is explain clearly to Territorians the acquisition processes you had and continue to have under the Native Title Act and have chosen not to use them. You also need to explain to Territorians that native title under these new arrangements has not been extinguished; native title has only been subdued. Your own experts said that. It has only been subdued. Where is the confidence that Territorians have in this government? It is the same confidence we had with the pool fencing legislation. I have heard ‘sorry’ from this Chief Minister more often in this three years than we have ever heard. She is sorry she stuffed up the pool fencing. It is a bit hard to say the word ‘sorry’ to Warren Anderson, but we are getting there. It is a dragging process to get it out of her.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker. There is an abuse of parliamentary proceeding by the member for Brennan. He had the opportunity to participate in the second reading debate, which is the opportunity to speak widely and cover all of the ground one needs to cover in and around the bill. There are specifics to which he needs to refer, one of which is the bill. He is contributing to a second reading debate at the point of the third reading, and he is misusing this House to make a reply closing debate, which he clearly does not have the right to do.
Madam SPEAKER: It is my understanding that people may speak at the third reading stage on the bill for 10 minutes. Member for Brennan, your time has nearly expired.
Mr BURKE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Given that I only have 45 seconds left, all I can say is that the point of order from the Deputy Chief Minister is a further indication of the sensitivity the government has on this issue.
You are quite happy to issue glossy brochures, you are quite happy to mislead Territorians that nothing has changed, you are quite happy to say that we will dance through the heather together in the future, but if the dogs are barking, they are going to bark louder and louder once Territorians understand clearly what exactly is happening to our national parks, what exactly this Labor government is doing in giving away our parks, and why they have not used the processes that are in place to preserve Territorians’ estate for the future.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, I want to drive the point home that the member for Brennan so aptly and eloquently made: the parks estate is being given away to other people. It is currently in the possession of the Crown. The Crown makes the government the landlord. The landlord has chosen to transfer title into the names of other people. If I transfer the title of my home out of my name and into the name of another person, no matter what arrangement I have made prior to that transfer, no matter what caveat I put in place, at the end of the day, I have given my property away. To say: ‘We are not giving the parks estate away’ is wrong.
The second issue that came up during the Estimates process was that native title was going to be suppressed. This is the opinion of the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, and this is the opinion of the government of the Northern Territory. Had the CLP at any point in the past attempted to suppress native title, we would have been accused, as usual, of being a pack of racists. The fact is that to make this deal work, it is necessary to suppress native title.
This government often and regularly talks about legacies; the legacy of this, the legacy of that, what has been done in the past that cause problems today. If you do not extinguish native title in the process of transferring, and you merely suppress it, you are creating a problem. That problem will come up at the time that these lease arrangements run out. The whole issue of Wik touched on the issue of suppression of native title and the suppression of native title will leave a legacy later on …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: The problem is that when this legacy comes up, the courts at the time are not going to know who is going to have title to what. They are going to have to litigate. Do you know the sad thing? When that native title comes up in future, it will be Aborigines against Aborigines trying to determine who owns what and who has what property rights over what piece of land in the parks. That is the legacy of this government through the process that they are establishing at the moment. It is ad hoc, it is nobbled together and it is ill-considered in its current structure and its legal consequences for the future.
Madam Speaker, this is folly of the highest order, and it is for that reason that members on this side of the House oppose what the government is doing.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
TABLED PAPER
Remuneration Tribunal Report and Recommendation No 2 of 2004 - Statutory Bodies
Remuneration Tribunal Report and Recommendation No 2 of 2004 - Statutory Bodies
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I table the Remuneration Tribunal Report and Recommendation No 2 of 2004, Statutory Bodies.
MOTION
Print Paper - Remuneration Tribunal Report and Recommendation No 2 of 2004 – Statutory Bodies
Print Paper - Remuneration Tribunal Report and Recommendation No 2 of 2004 – Statutory Bodies
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move that the report be printed.
Motion agreed to.
MOTION
Note Paper - Remuneration Tribunal Report and Recommendation No 2 of 2004 – Statutory Bodies
Note Paper - Remuneration Tribunal Report and Recommendation No 2 of 2004 – Statutory Bodies
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I rise to present to the House the report prepared by the Northern Territory Remuneration Tribunal.
In October 2003, the Administrator, acting on the advice of the Executive Council, requested the Remuneration Tribunal to inquire into and report on the remuneration paid to members of Northern Territory government statutory bodies and to make recommendations in relation to the manner in which future reviews may be undertaken. The tribunal was also asked to consider reforms to the classification and structure for statutory bodies.
The tribunal has now presented its report to government. The report represents the most comprehensive review undertaken by the tribunal to date in relation to statutory bodies and makes a range of recommendations on such matters as remuneration levels, a new classification structure consisting of three principal categories divided into various tiers and levels of responsibility, formal establishment of annual fees for certain bodies and persons where warranted, amendment of the Remuneration Tribunal Act to enable the Administrator to determine a classification structure for statutory bodies and the remuneration levels to apply, and for ministers to determine the allocation of bodies within the classification structure, insurance issues and a range of administrative matters.
The government is looking forward to considering the tribunal’s recommendations with a view to establishing higher standards in the administration of statutory bodies consistent with good governance principles and best practice around Australia.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the paper, and that I have leave to continue my remarks at a later hour.
Motion agreed to.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Child Protection
Child Protection
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Family and Community Services): Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about a matter of the utmost importance. There can be nothing more important than the welfare and wellbeing of the Territory’s children.
The Northern Territory has the youngest population in Australia. Territorians under 18 make up 30% of the population, a greater percentage than anywhere else in the country. Of the 57 000 plus kids in the Territory, more than 21 000 or 37% are Aboriginal. This creates both challenges and opportunities.
Children are the life blood of any society. Protecting children and supporting families is what I want to talk about today. In particular, I want to outline the policy of our government in relation to the protection of our children from abuse and neglect. This policy will take its place alongside the long overdue reform and development programs that we have put in place in respect of health, employment, education and local government administration.
The Martin Labor government has been focussed on building a better Territory since it came to office, and the increased social cohesion that flows from the fixing of child and family welfare problems is one of the building blocks. Whether children are well placed as the future unfolds depends in large measure on the quality of their social environment and on whether they have grown up in a safe, nurturing and positive family environment.
Growing up the next generation of Territorians should be important to all of us. Government can, to at least some extent, provide the social infrastructure and civic leadership on which opportunity can be based, but growing up kids is a responsibility that rests in the first instance with parents, families and communities.
I have first-hand experience of the intertwined privileges and obligations of being a mother and a grandmother, and I come from a large and extended family. That experience enables me to say with some authority that raising kids and young people is not always easy. It is a task that brings with it all sorts of complications, but also wonderful memories and joy. Watching kids grow up successfully is the most satisfying and rewarding experience that parents can have.
In my work with various communities over the years, I have obtained increasingly profound insight into the challenges for Territory parents and families as they raise their children. I have particularly come to understand the significant challenges faced by many Aboriginal parents and carers. Their challenges include the erosion of cultural and moral values, geographical remoteness, failed past government policies, the struggle for economic independence and a lack of basic services.
There are times when growing up is not joyful, successful or easy. There are times when children and young people are harmed, neglected or isolated. Sometimes this is the fault of those who are supposed to nurture and protect them; sometimes it is their own doing; and sometimes it is a consequence of the social and economic conditions in which they live.
Today, I want to talk about what we see as the way forward when it comes to protecting children and stopping child abuse and neglect. This government’s Caring for Our Children reform agenda has two important parts: new legislation aimed at better protecting children; and reform of existing policy and administrative processes with a view to the same outcome. Information, values and emotional sustenance absorbed from a child’s family constitute the most important elements in its identity. Family is the hub around which the wheel of most children’s lives extend.
The tragedy is that most child abuse happens in families, and most perpetrators are known to the child and family. Child abuse is cloaked in shame and fear and creates mistrust. Victims and their families will be scared of speaking out. A parent or sibling who knows or suspects may stay silent in the belief that speaking out will do no good, that he or she will not be believed or, worse, that some retribution will be visited upon them.
Abuse may be an open secret, known more broadly to parts of our community, but still a secret hidden from the reach of intervention. Dealing with fears and open secrets requires us to build greater trust, a trust that will make children and those who know of abuse believe that if they seek help they will not be left isolated, unsupported or alone. That need to know about abuse will be recognised for what it is: a crime against our kids.
Child abuse and neglect is a problem that is not unique to the Territory. It is a problem found in all nations and most societies. It is associated with the presence of family violence, substance abuse, mental illness, poverty, unemployment and lack of social support. These phenomena are signs of poor family and community cohesion, and inadequate coping skills and capacity.
After many years of research and investigation into child abuse and neglect, we know quite a lot about it. We know what causes it and we know the appalling legacy that it leaves. These include drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, homelessness, juvenile crime, adult criminal behaviour and incarceration. Some estimates indicate that as many as 97% of prisoners have experienced abuse or neglect. An American study in 2000 reported that the US spends $94bn annually on the direct and indirect costs of child abuse and neglect.
I know that child abuse and neglect occurs, and I know that it occurs on a scale that statistics and studies will never truly reveal. We must always be looking at it, and into child protection; researching it, studying it and understanding it, trying to find ways to address it. However, I am not just going to look at the problem. I am going to tackle the problem. I do not need more information before taking action. The easiest thing for me and the government to do would be to announce another review. I will not. I will not let our comprehensive reform process languish while we wait. I believe that child protection problems that our society currently faces have resulted from government inaction, not a lack of information.
I do not wish to labour this point, as it is not the focus of my statement today. However, it is important that the community understands that our child protection reform is based on comprehensive research, reviews and analyses already undertaken. My department currently has in front of it over 20 different reports about understanding and addressing child abuse in Australia. Several of these are specific to the Northern Territory. Several are specific to indigenous issues, and others look at the problem from an Australian perspective. The reports have been produced or commissioned by a wide range of institutions, including government, universities and other independent research centres. These reports and their associated inquiries have methodically analysed past and continuing instances of child abuse and neglect, and our own specialists and advisors will continue to monitor both the Territory’s situation and the research and literature emanating from other jurisdictions.
I refer members to the Caring for Our Children web site, which itemises material that the Department of Health and Community Services either commissioned or uses to inform the reform agenda. However, I reiterate this government’s position that while information is important, it is action, not information, which is needed now.
Let me tell you what the Australian and Northern Territory data tells us. In Australia in 2002-03, there were 198 355 reports or notifications of suspected child abuse and neglect; 1554 of those related to the Territory. The nature of our response to such notifications has been similar to the response in most of the other states and the ACT. Every single one of the suspected child abuse or neglect notifications is immediately assessed, and about 40% to 50% of all notifications result in a full investigation. About 25% of notifications are substantiated or confirmed as child abuse. We also know that approximately 43% of substantiated cases are classified as physical abuse, 10% as sexual abuse, 11% as emotional abuse, much of which is because of the children’s exposure to parental domestic violence, and 36% of cases relate to neglect. This compares to the national figures where physical abuse comprised 28%, sexual abuse 10%, emotional abuse 34%, and neglect 28%.
From 1997-98 to 2002-03 in Territory, there was a 223% increase in notifications of abuse and neglect. In the same period, there was a 171% increase in the number of children in care. The SNAICC Report published in 2003 on Territory children found that there was still significant under-reporting of child abuse and neglect. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are more likely to have substantiated abuse notifications made about them than any other children. In the Northern Territory, it is 5 times more likely that there will be a substantiated outcome in respect of a notification received concerning an indigenous child.
In the Territory, the majority of substantiated cases of abuse, 40%, relate to female single parent families, followed closely, 39%, by cases relating to two parent intact families. This is also consistent with the figures for the rest of Australia.
The Productivity Commission Report of 2003 indicated the Northern Territory had one of the highest levels of direct spending on child abuse at $177 per child, compared with the national average of $150. However, this government believes that still not enough is being done, and I will get to the funding later.
The statistics I have referred to serve to remind us of something we often forget when we read about the more horrifying sexual and physical abuse cases in the media; that is, that child abuse is not just about sexual and physical abuse, terrible as those things are. There are four main forms of child abuse that our children may experience, and each leaves its own scars and must be recognised and dealt with. The often overlooked additional two categories of child abuse are those of emotional abuse and child neglect.
The impact of emotional abuse may leave no physical injuries or scars, but the hurt it produces can be more damaging than instances of physical or sexual abuse. Truly, we cannot afford to ignore child neglect. Failure to provide children with enough food, proper shelter or clothing and proper supervision can, in extremes, lead to malnutrition, developmental delays and affect children’s ability to get an education, and is more strongly associated with later involvement in criminal activity than any other forms of child abuse. We must ensure that we do not restrict our efforts to physical cruelty and sexual misbehaviour, and fail to address other forms of harm children may suffer.
Similarly, we must bear in mind that one size does not fit all. We need to have differentiated responses for different problems. However, in general terms, our primary focus will be on preventing all kinds of harm, and supporting families and communities where such harm is occurring, or is in danger of occurring.
The government will not just sit back and wait for improvements to occur through better prevention and early intervention strategies and processes. There are children in harm’s way in our communities now, and government must act. So, what are we doing? In most areas of government policy, money alone will not solve problems, and this applies to child protection as much as any other area. However, it is also true to say that not a lot can be achieved without money.
In opposition and coming into government, we believed that child protection was chronically underfunded. There were many areas of government that we believed needed to be addressed from a funding perspective and child protection was right up there as a priority. We have addressed it in funding terms; you only have to look at the budget papers.
When the Martin government was elected in 2001, the 2001-02 Child Protection Services budget was $7.8m. This year, 2004-05, the Child Protection Services budget is over $20m. In three years, the budget papers demonstrate that funding has almost tripled. These figures constitute a dramatic increase in funding. The government could easily sit back and rely on the figures as proof that we have adequately addressed child protection funding, however we believe that more funding still is required.
That is why last year we made the decision to allocate an additional $53m for rebuilding child protection. As I mentioned earlier, money alone is not the solution because child abuse is a complex problem. It requires a full and comprehensive response. There are no simple answers and I would reject any suggestion that there are easy answers to the problem of child abuse and neglect. We are taking a comprehensive approach to the reform of our child protection system. I have given you figures on suspected child abuse and neglect and spelt out the way in which notifications are responded to, but a good child protection system is exactly that: a system operating at different levels and involving various players. We need reforms at all levels of our system.
Earlier, when comparing the Northern Territory with rest of Australia, I mentioned that in 2002-03, we had 1554 notifications of child abuse. Last year, in 2003-04, the number of notifications was 1949. This is an increase of 395, or 25%, in one year. This statement might sound strange, but I want this number to increase. The reason I say that is because I believe, and research supports me, that child abuse is grossly under-reported. I understand that if this number does increase, people will use it against me to suggest that child abuse is on the increase. However, I am willing to wear that criticism because I believe, in fact I know, that perhaps the biggest obstacle to effectively tackling child abuse is the fact that much of the abuse never reaches our official statistics. It is abuse that simply is not reported.
One of my key objectives as minister is to increase child abuse awareness and reporting, and I am glad to say that this is already occurring. As I mentioned, there was a 25% increase in notifications last year. Almost all of the increase was due to the increase in indigenous notifications, which are up by 371 from 855 to 1026, a 43% increase.
Since the change of government, the number of notifications for abuse of Aboriginal children has nearly doubled; it has increased by 96%. The question to ask is: has child abuse in Aboriginal communities doubled during this time, or has reporting of child abuse doubled during the time? It is the latter. I take great heart in these figures. Finally, child abuse in Aboriginal communities is being addressed. The stigma of not taking a stand against the abuse is being tackled at the grassroots level within our communities. Although I am optimistic, I know that we still have some way to go before we can say that we have found lasting solutions to this social sickness in our remote communities, but a least what we can say is that it is no longer a case of out of sight, out of mind.
The move that the government has made to start addressing child abuse in indigenous communities has not been easy. I acknowledge that it has placed enormous additional pressures on staff. Increased workloads have been created both as the result of the increase in notifications and because notifications are increasingly coming from remote areas. There can be absolutely no argument that the more staff on the job in the main population centres and in regional remote communities, the better. That is a key focus of our strategy. Obviously, the best way to address workloads is to increase staffing levels and we are doing that.
Attracting qualified staff into the child protection area is a major issue across Australia. It is a very difficult job carried out in very difficult circumstances. I am delighted that since January this year, my department has been able to attract 32 new operational staff to join Family and Community Services. There have been two cadetships and two traineeships for Aboriginal people created and filled since January 2004. We have five additional staff to provide an after hours service. We know that abuse and neglect do not happen between nine and five. We have appointed six additional child protection staff, as well as two cadetships and two traineeships. We have developed a recruitment strategy to try to fill vacant child protection worker positions, and this recruitment is ongoing.
The new recruits will join and assist the hard working team of child protection workers. We recognise the importance of looking after these staff and Community Services has formed a dedicated Service System Improvement Unit within FACS to implement strategies that will help services deal with increasingly complex cases and problems.
We are enhancing training and professional development for staff including our NGO partners. I recognise the critical work of our child protection workers, however, I also recognise that work pressures can sometimes make them less responsive than we and they would like. We are developing a workload management system and enhanced training for our staff to address the criticisms of our statutory child protection system. The department is also looking at its case management system, and I have asked them to conduct an audit on case loads to see how the workload can be better managed. We are developing a new complaints system in recognition of the need to use complaints to help us build a better system. As I stated, I acknowledge that the increasing pressures have caused an increasing strain on our child protection employees
I struggle to think of a more difficult job. The requirement to analyse and intervene in what are always emotional and stressful situations on a daily basis requires great patience, skill and understanding. I am sure that I have the united support of this parliament when I say that their work is immensely valued and appreciated by us all.
We are diligently working with the staff to address any and all concerns that they may have. I acknowledge that across the Territory, staff need new and improved accommodation and we are delivering on that, including in Central Australia. We are delivering that as quickly as we possibly can. Workloads and case management are another important issue and we are working to come up with systems and processes that suit all involved.
The government has already announced the formation of a reference group to oversee the reform of our child protection system. This group is charged not with the task of reinventing the wheel, but with pushing it forward. The group combines the expertise and wisdom of local and interstate experts. It will work with the newly formed Family and Community Services Advisory Council chaired by Charlie King.
I have known Charlie for a long time and his commitment to children and young people is well known. I am delighted that he has accepted my offer to chair this advisory council. I know that Charlie will tell me how it really is. The new advisory council will be holding its inaugural meeting tomorrow, and both I and the shadow minister, the member for Port Darwin, will be attending.
The advisory council is made up of people with a wide range of experience from across the whole of the Northern Territory and I look forward to meeting with them tomorrow. As regards the participation of the member for Port Darwin, I take this opportunity to note with satisfaction that there would appear to be a bipartisan commitment in this House to address child protection issues. It is important that we demonstrate the bipartisan commitment to the advisory council and to the wider community, so I am glad that the member for Port Darwin has accepted my invitation to attend.
In addition to my department’s reference group and the advisory council, there is an inter-departmental committee whose job it is to ensure that all departments are informed of and included in the reform process.
I am pleased to announce that I have been appointed to chair the national Community and Disability Services Ministers’ Council. This is the council that pulls together all the state, territory and federal ministers. I intend to use my position as chair of this council to draw attention to the particular difficulties we face in the Northern Territory, especially as regards the discharge of our child protection obligations in relation to children in geographically remote indigenous communities with significant economic and social dysfunction problems.
My CEO, Robert Griew, also chairs an important national working group, which is developing a joint government and community services policy and planning process in relation to indigenous child and family wellbeing and resilience. The important work undertaken by SNAICC in identifying the seven priorities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families will be used by the national working group under Mr Griew’s leadership.
Next month, Brisbane hosts the 15th International Congress on the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. This is the largest congress in the world in this field, and is recognised as the premier international child abuse and neglect conference. I am delighted that, as part of this congress, I have been invited to chair an international panel of experts from Australia, New Zealand, America and Canada on making the world safer for children.
This government believes that an effective policy to address child protection needs in the Territory has to have three major and inter-related components. First, we can help prevent and reduce child abuse and neglect by building economically and socially sustainable communities that are more confident and capable when it comes to child rearing, and ensuring parents get the help they need. An example of this government’s programs for families include the Moulden Park Comprehensive Service based at the local school. Funding is provided by my department to support the local community in its attempts to address child and family concerns. At this site, programs are provided for parenting assistance, family and schools together program, early childhood support and referrals to family agencies. We will be expanding these types of services, which involve the community and recognise the important role of schools in the protection of children and support for families.
Funding for the Breathing Space Program is provided to Darwin Family Day Care to broker child care for families in Darwin, Alice Springs, and Katherine and, this financial year, Tennant Creek. Families using this service are referred by agencies such as drug and alcohol services, medical and mental health services and parenting programs. This program builds on existing mainstream services and offers help to parents who are experiencing difficulties and need a break. Many Territory families do not have extended family support and this program fills that gap.
We will continue to build on existing services such as child care to reach those families who are struggling before their children are trapped in a cycle of abuse and neglect. The Remote Children’s Services Development in Central Australia is in three communities: Mt Liebig, Yuendumu and Mutitjulu. My department has worked with the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services and DEET to consult with and involve community members in designing early childhood programs that meet local expectations and needs. This is resulting in new service models, an innovation in the way that the Northern Territory and Commonwealth government agencies, training providers and support agencies work together to assist communities in this important area.
New child care facilities and services are now under active development in a further four communities: Titjakala, Ikuntji, Kintore and Laramba. Parentline is available for any family, any day, about anything. It offers a counselling service for all parents, with a capacity to refer parents in need of particular assistance or where there are concerns about children’s safety. The Positive Parenting Program, or PPP, is offered to interested parents where appropriate. Darwin Family Day Care offers a Parenting Puzzle Program to Darwin families with a successful baby group for young mothers. A position is funded in Alice Springs to offer counselling and parenting skill training for any parent. This community-based position is working closely with government and non-government agencies, including Centrelink, to provide information, counselling and structured programs for both individual families and groups.
The department now has a families web site available, with over 70 tip sheets available on many topics of interest and help for parents. These are being well used by parents and providers of services to families.
A range of new childhood family support initiatives have been funded. $910 000 is being provided in eight locations across the Northern Territory. The initiative is broadly aimed to progress an integrated response to children, their families, and communities; strengthen cohesion amongst those working with children and families, and provide a physical and program profile in the community for child and family support services. They include development of a child and family services precinct in Katherine; a family service base and programs at Maningrida CEC, Karama School and Wadeye; extensions of planned child care services development in Kintore; strengthening an early childhood program for Alice Springs town camp residents; and assistance for the Little Kids program, Rela Kuku Mapa run by the Western Aranda Relekha Aboriginal Corporation at Ntaria.
This government has developed an Office of Children and Family, which is actively involved in developing new programs and services, with a particular focus on improving parenting support and children’s services. We have increased child care subsidies by almost $1m to help families access good quality child care.
We have expanded the breakfast program in schools by an allocation of $300 000 to allow an additional six communities ensure that children have that important first meal of the day. This program complements a similar program run in the Northern Territory by the Fred Hollows Foundation.
We have established a youth outreach service to work with youth on the streets at night in Darwin, and we have funded youth activity programs in Borroloola and Nightcliff to offer support to our more vulnerable youth. We have funded a worker at Reconnect to work with young people who are petrol sniffing. We have increased funding to a range of agencies including the Foster Carers Association and CREATE, the organisation for young people in care, to enhance our services to young people in the care system. We have increased payments to families with children in foster care. This government has taken the lead role in the Child and Youth Safety Committee in Alice Springs, which works to provide solutions to young people who are a risk to themselves and others.
The Northern Territory has one of the highest rates of young parents. We have funded Ampe Aweke Alice Springs to provide residential and outreach support to young pregnant Aboriginal girls and their babies. The child and maternal health home visiting program in Central Australia will not just focus on medical needs, but will recognise the vulnerability of many families and enhance our ability to identify families at risk and ensure they receive the help they need.
My department has commenced work with several remote communities - Daly River, Oenpelli, Borroloola, Maningrida, Galiwinku, and Numbulwar- to identify strategies to help them better protect and care for children. An experienced officer from my department has been seconded to work in Wadeye to assist them to build capacity in that community. This is on top of the important work the Commonwealth and this government is doing with that community to respond to a range of problems. This approach emphasises the importance of strengthening families and communities as a way of keeping children safe, and minimising the need for more intrusive statutory child protection services.
These programs provide a universal service, in a non-stigmatising way, which allows service providers to identify families who are struggling and who need an additional helping hand. These families may never be represented in the figures of abused children, but these responses are a critical part of our child protection system.
The second component of our reform is the strengthening of service provision so that it effectively responds to our more vulnerable children. However, we need to do this in a way that strengthens communities and makes them safe places for children.
It is important for us to accept from the beginning that raising children and young people requires the right balance between the roles of parents, communities and government. Government provides many of the institutions like education, family support, law and justice, and health and community services necessary to support families and children. The desired outcome is for children to grow into young people who can participate successfully in the Territory’s economic, social and civic life. Functional communities can provide the social and cultural capital necessary to enable kids to fit in and to realise their potential.
Just as medical treatments that deal with a single localised problem whilst ignoring the whole person may often deliver only limited and short-term relief, we are not going to achieve success with our Family and Community Services policies if we focus only on abused or neglected children without also addressing the other members of their families. We need an integrated response to families that are in strife. This requires interaction and team work between staff from my department and relevant workers from other government and non-government agencies.
My department is working closely with other government departments and the non-government sector to make sure that we all notice when children are at risk. We are reviewing our family support programs to ensure that we are targeting our more vulnerable families. In recognition of the particular needs of some young people, we are reviewing our services for high-needs children and young people.
Children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to child abuse, and they need special protection. My department has started to implement a serious of measures that will improve the way that children with disabilities are protected and families are supported to care for their children. Child Protection and Disability Services staff will soon be working together under a joint protocol aimed at providing a streamlined service system when children with disabilities are harmed or cannot live at home. The joint protocol promotes information sharing and integrated service delivery. The joint protocol encourages staff to detect family stress where there is a child with a disability at the earliest possible time and to alleviate those stresses so that families can manage their parenting responsibilities.
The Disabilities Services program is revising and developing policies that will support and safeguard children with disabilities who cannot live at home. Carers engaged to provide an alternative family environment for these children will be assessed and supervised to ensure that the children’s best interests are paramount. Parents will also be encouraged to maintain their parenting responsibilities, and they will be supported to do so.
We are developing new, first response guidelines for frontline workers in the police and FACS in responding to domestic violence, child protection and sexual assault. A number of other protocols will ensure a better response between agencies. Alice Springs has implemented these already.
We have provided funding to develop a video on sexual assault that reflects community views. A child sexual assault and STI working party is developing better reporting, investigation and referral protocols with a particular focus on remote areas.
There are some families that have chronic problems, and children in these families are particularly vulnerable. Many of these families are repeat clients of the welfare system; 30% of reported cases of child abuse and neglect have had prior notifications. Often, multiple service providers like health services, housing organisations, legal services and family support and welfare services are involved with these families, but agencies are frequently unaware of the contribution of other providers and the duplication, gaps, frustration and inefficiency that so regularly emerges.
We have reviewed contemporary practice models across Australia as well as completing a detailed analysis of our Northern Territory data. Our school, police, correctional services, family support and health staff, to name just a few, are embracing their responsibility to protect and care for children in difficulty. Our statutory child protection service has the responsibility to respond when we suspect that children are being abused. It is an essential part of our child protection system, but it is a back up; it is not an excuse for other service providers to ignore the critical needs of our most vulnerable Territorians.
This government has developed a range of legislative amendments that better protect children. We have strengthened and updated the provisions in the Criminal Code Act relating to possession of child pornography, procurement of children, and indecent dealing with children under 16 years; introduced measures to make swimming pools safer for children and reduce the tragedy of child drownings, which were the highest rates in Australia; and amended the Community Welfare Act to enable transfer of child protection orders and proceedings. We are currently amending or revising the following: replacing the existing Community Welfare Act with new, contemporary legislation for children and families, adding provisions to respond to the particular needs and interests of children as witnesses, and reviewing the Juvenile Justice Act. We need to strengthen the responses to children who have been identified as being abused or neglected, or who are at serious risk.
Underpinning the new system is the new Community Welfare Act. This act has not been properly reviewed in over 20 years. We are conducting an overhaul, and it is a big task. We have been consulting with communities about the changes that are required, and I will have a draft bill in November. I am honouring my commitment to consult to ensure the bill meets the expectations of the community. This bill will make clear this government’s commitment to early intervention and prevention. It will outline principles and objectives that will underpin the interpretation of the act. It will define more clearly children who are in need of protection. It will provide for a greater range of orders when children are before the courts. It will provide for effective review mechanisms, and it will allow for greater information sharing. It will require the department to involve parents and extended families in decision making.
This is not about going soft on abuse or neglect. It will allow officers of my department to take decisive action when required. It will spell out the powers and responsibilities of officers in my department, and it will allow us to better protect children. We will still need to go to the courts and seek the removal of some children when families will not take action to keep their children safe.
We are focussed on building a system that endeavours to keep the child in the family wherever possible, and knits together relevant services to respond to a range of family dysfunction problems. We know that one size does not fit all, and we are creating a network of services that will address the particular circumstances of Territory families where children are at serious risk.
We are also introducing the Child Protection (Offenders Reporting and Registration) Bill, ensuring offenders are restricted from child-related employment. Families can have increased confidence that there will be measures in place to screen and detect sex offenders and prevent them from working with their children.
It is important for government not to think that it has all the answers. Strong family and community leadership is an equally critical part of a child’s development and protection processes. It is our responsibility as parents and leaders to set standards and to reinforce the value of our society so that children and families can be confident enough to identify child abuse for the crime it is, and to seek help when it happens.
I have publicly called for Aboriginal community leaders to confront the damage done to children and young people as a result of alcohol and other substance abuse. The link between such behaviour and general violence is well established. What is also now becoming increasingly evident is the clear link between alcohol and other substance abuse and child sexual abuse. Communities need to take all measures necessary to remove this scourge from our communities’ lives, including moderating, restricting or even, in some cases, withdrawing access to alcohol. Children and young people need strong family and community leadership, and they need it now. For my part, as an Aboriginal woman in a leadership role, I will continue to urge colleagues in the Aboriginal leadership to stand up and to tackle child abuse head on.
I have talked about how substance abuse often leads to child abuse. Gambling leads to child neglect. Gambling is a curse that affects children more than anyone else, whether it be on the pokies at the casino or a game of cards in the community; the end losers are often children. Gambling is an affliction that harms many vulnerable people, and it must be addressed.
I am the first Aboriginal woman to become a government minister in Australia. This only becomes an honour if I am able to use my position to achieve things. I accept that the incidence of child abuse, in particular in Aboriginal communities, is too high. I am moving now to do all I can to try to address that problem. I am committed to not only using the funding and legislative tools I have as a minister to change things, but also my influence.
We have had enough: no more family violence. Dealing with violence and abuse is not just women’s business; it is the community’s problem. Our communities and organisations must work together to create communities free of violence and abuse. However, it is also important to recognise that abuse occurs all too frequently in non-Aboriginal communities. Just as I have called on the Aboriginal leadership to take on the task of building a climate of trust, I call on non-Aboriginal leaders to join with me. The more we tell our family, neighbours and community that abuse is not acceptable, the more likely we are to succeed in eliminating it.
I have no doubt that the task ahead will be difficult. The Northern Territory is a wonderful and unique place, but it is a society with many complex and serious problems. I have talked about some of these problems; high levels of dangerous drinking, other forms of substance abuse, high levels of poverty, high levels of gambling, marginalised families and communities, and youth suicide, to name a few. All of these have direct links to risk, to child safety and wellbeing. We want the system to take a proactive role in relation to families and communities, where the accumulation of disadvantage and risk tells us that they are likely to be losing their ability to cope, or where children and young people may be confronted with greater risk.
We must work together to build staff skills in recognising and responding to the early signs of family distress. We will progressively establish service programs aimed at identifying problems and commencing remedial work early and locally. This focus on local issues will force government and non-government agencies to work together, and will help create communities and services that are more friendly and responsive to the needs of children and young Territorians.
We will develop an intensive family service to respond to high-risk, high-need families and, at the same time, we will ensure that existing services are better coordinated with each other and with the new intensive service. The aim is to avoid the sort of duplication that was revealed through one program in Western Australia. A family was receiving services from more than 40 welfare agencies, which involved more than 200 meetings a year. The adoption of an intensive, coordinated approach improves outcomes considerably.
We are increasing placement services in Alice Springs with a particular focus on young people who are petrol sniffing, and whose families are unable to cope.
It is undeniable that past neglect has strained the confidence of the community and staff in our child protection system. However, in the more recent past, significant improvements and reforms have been and continue to be achieved by this government. So what is the Martin government’s vision for protecting children and strengthening families? It is a system that recognises that government cannot do it alone. Child protection is everyone’s responsibility. We must all step up to the plate and recognise that government, families and communities are a team, and each one of us has our part to play. It is a system that provides responsive, integrated services that strengthen families, and one which pays attention to families which are struggling.
These services are based in strong community structures such as schools, child care centres and family centres that have strong community input. They are staffed by workers who know their stuff, and blend professional knowledge with community views and values. Services for vulnerable families are accessible and offer specialist assistance. Families are engaged in the process in ways that allow them to take responsibility for making changes, while also ensuring children are protected. Our statutory child protection system will engage with families and children and involve them in planning for the changes that must occur in their lives.
We will not be frightened by the excesses of the past policy of child removal and fail to take action. We will take bold action when required to protect children, but it will be action that is respectful of parents and their hardships. We will make sure that calls are returned, that parents and other service providers are given information about what is happening, and we will ensure that all who have a part to play will be included in the decision-making processes.
Alternatives to court processes will build on practices that have recently proved successful in New Zealand. We will document case plans and share them with other service providers and families who have been involved in developing them.
You may think that these are small things. However, they are at the heart of this new system. It is the small things that make a difference, such as the recognition that all service providers have an important part to play, and that it is our job to knit services together. It is not the task of families to make sense of unrelated parts of the service system. This system will recognise and respond to the cultural and geographic diversity of the Territory’s population. The system will respect the diversity of cultural and religious beliefs, but that respect does not extend to turning a blind eye to the unacceptable practices wrapped inappropriately in a cloak of religious or cultural belief.
We are committed to building a compassionate society, one in which all citizens are valued and where the social safety net is not ripped away under some guise of promoting self-help. We are committed to building social cohesion and family self-reliance. Our agenda is focussed on balancing the responsibility of individuals, family and government. The Martin Labor government will measure its responses. We will balance universal and targeted services carefully so that we can ensure the best results from available resources. In doing so, we will not resile from the values of Labor: social cohesion, fairness, compassion and community.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Ms CARTER (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that children are important to all of us, and to society as a whole. Their innocence is something that should bring joy to our lives, and they should be allowed to live an innocent life for as long as possible. Children have a right to safety, affection, good care and their innocence. Society, over time, has evolved processes and stages to move a young child through life in such a way that awareness and understanding of issues generally are done gradually and with care.
For example, let us talk about sex education. Before school age, parents have to cope with questions like: ‘Mummy, where did I come from?’ Most parents are able to cope with a question like that quite well. At primary school age, young people experience basic biology and learn what is right and wrong. During secondary school age, the curriculum offers issues such as relationship building, more detailed biology, and some of the less salubrious aspects of sexual activity such as sexually transmitted infections.
Once a young person reaches adulthood, they are prepared to join in and understand public debate over issues such as sexuality and sex behaviour; they go to the movies and they may see R-rated movies and read books on the matter. Society, as a whole, has developed a process that takes a young innocent child and gradually exposes them to complex and difficult issues in our community such as sex education, preparing them for their role as an adult. That is just one issue.
With regards to, for example, sexual behaviour, society has an agreement that sexual activity below the age of 16 is not something that we sanction. That law has been passed in the Northern Territory and deals with one difficult topic that a young person comes up against.
Equally, society’s attitude to violence towards children generally will not be tolerated, and we see society change its attitude to violence as the years go by. When I was a young child, it was not uncommon for children to get what was called ‘a belting’ from their dad - not that I ever got one, but kids in my class certainly did. We thought nothing of it. It was not uncommon for kids to get a smack in the supermarket, and I received some of those in my time. Nowadays, of course, our attitude has changed and most of us, I suspect, would be horrified at the thought of young children copping what was known as ‘a belting’ from mum or dad.
We have changed our attitudes based on learning how that behaviour experienced by a young person can affect their future life, acknowledging the fact that a child is in no position to be able to defend itself from physical violence, which is, quite frankly, unfair for that child. That is probably the reason why, as a society, we have moved on so that we do not tolerate overt violence towards children, or anyone for that matter.
Society has also moved to prevent malnutrition in children. An example, at the moment, is the government’s breakfast program running at schools. Society changes its mind, changes its attitude, and takes onboard the fact that children need a fair go in life. That is what we are about today because all of this is done in the hope that a child who is not abused will grow into a good adult.
Our hope is that if a child is not abused, they will demonstrate as an adult good health and, in particular, good mental health because it has been confirmed that people who are abused as children suffer as adults, for example, with mental health problems. The hope is that a child who is not abused as a child, and who witnesses good parenting skills from their parents, will transfer those good parenting skills to their own behaviour when they become a parent. They have seen the role models of their parents demonstrating good parenting skills and they do the same thing when they become parents.
The opposite occurs for a child who is abused. Statistically, many people who are in our prisons today, it is believed, have suffered child abuse. This is something that we are trying to overcome by developing a society that does not tolerate child abuse, that holds its hand out to families that find themselves in a situation where children could be abused, and in an effort to prevent child abuse occurring in the hope that the aberrations of poor adult behaviour do not occur in the future. Of course, it is right and proper to do everything we can to prevent children suffering from abuse.
Abuse takes many forms. The ‘hot’ forms are sexual abuse and violence, but there are far more subtle abuses: emotional abuse; neglect for lack of good clothing and shoes; perhaps even not receiving adequate nutrition. These are the sorts of abuses that are not so obvious and one of the very subtle abuses is just a lack of the demonstration of love within a family.
Child abuse is well known to be a problem in the Northern Territory. We only have to follow the stories in the Northern Territory News over the past 12 months to remind ourselves of this fact. For example, late last year media attention was on the fact that during the previous 12 months, there had been 200 cases of sexually transmitted infection among children aged under the aged of 15 years. It could be the case that a child was transmitting an infection to another child under the age of 15 when they were participating in sexual intercourse, but more than likely, the inference is that young children infected with a sexually transmitted disease are infected by an adult.
The incidence of sexually transmitted infections in the Northern Territory is very high. It is something of which we all have to be aware and work hard to overcome. The incidence of sexually transmitted infections indicates that sexual activity is occurring. We can assume, as I say, that many of the partners of these children will be adults and that is wrong and should be dealt with.
Another case was with regard to a child under the age of five - and there were graphic photos in the paper - apparently using a bong to smoke cannabis. That situation needs to be constantly monitored and is a most unusual situation, one would hope.
Another case was a baby who was abandoned at a petrol station, and another situation was the complaint and concerns from teachers in the Northern Territory who publicly expressed their unhappiness with the fact that after they had reported cases of what they suspected to be child abuse, there was no feedback as to how things were going and they are, of course, stuck in a class room situation feeling frustrated by that.
Territorians know that child abuse is a problem and has been going on for a long time. Some years ago, the Country Liberal Party, when in government, introduced an Australian first. This was that people like nurses and teachers who suspected that a child was being abused had to mandatorily report it to their supervisor who then had to report it to the Child Protection Unit. This was not an easy thing to do. At the time, I was a student teacher and we were all briefed on the matter. When I did practical experience in the Darwin area, we were well aware of the requirement that if we felt a child was being abused, we had to report it to our supervisor. It caused some discussion among teachers. I experienced the difficulty of the process once within a school at which I was doing a practical. It was not me who had to do the reporting, but there was concern with regards to how the family would respond to the reporting teacher because it is a very serious allegation to make. There was some stress amongst staff about having to make that report.
I am well aware from my time as a nurse with the difficulty, particularly for remote area nurses working in isolated communities when they suspected there was a case of child abuse, of when they reported it, what would happen to them? It was the case that a friend of mine had to be evacuated from a remote area community on a special flight for with her family owing to threats of serious violence because she had taken the step of reporting a child abuse case to the authorities.
It is something that has caused stress and concern for people who have to make those reports, but it is something that is very necessary for them to do and it is something that, to this day, people need a great deal of support behind them when they make these complaints.
Just over 12 months ago, a report was released called State of Denial: the neglect and abuse of indigenous children in the Northern Territory. It was researched and written by Julian Pocock, and printed in June 2003. This report, and indeed the minister’s statement, concentrate to a degree on child abuse in Aboriginal communities, as I will now. However, I do emphasise, as the minister has, that the problem of child abuse knows no racial boundaries. It may well be more prevalent among Aboriginal communities owing to social factors such as poverty, crowded housing, broken families and substance abuse that some people in those communities suffer.
I will now quote substantially from the executive summary of this report because, to me, to captures the issues very well:
- … the Northern Territory has the highest levels of unrecorded child abuse and neglect in Australia and that the Northern Territory child protection system is failing in its statutory obligations to protect indigenous children and provide for their welfare. The system is fragmented and poorly resourced with major non-government Aboriginal agencies expressing an alarming level of dissatisfaction with the system’s operation.
… the recorded rates of substantiated child abuse and neglect, rates of children on care and protection orders and the rates of children in out-of-home care are significantly and consistently lower in the Northern Territory than for all other states and territories combined.
…
There is a chronic shortage of foster care placements for the relatively small number of Aboriginal children in the child protection system who need out-of-home care. Worse still, there are at least 10 times the number of Aboriginal children who are suffering maltreatment, as defined by the Northern Territory Community Welfare Act, who currently receive no support or protection through the child protection system.
Rather than address of the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, the Northern Territory child protection has in effect withdrawn from service provision, abandoning the most impoverished children and families in Australia.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, what we are participating in today is called a parliamentary debate. Many consider a debate to be two opposing arguments. In this case, it is not a debate as such because I believe everyone in this House knows that children are being abused and more should be done. I am pleased to speak in support of the minister’s statement. I have travelled with this minister, the member for Arafura, and I am well aware of her passion and commitment to this issue. I wish her all the very best with it.
Aboriginal people are now rising up and publicly saying it is not on, just as we saw in the Northern Territory 10 years ago, when our then Chief Minister, Marshall Perron, said: ‘Domestic violence is not on, and if you cannot live by that code, you had better leave the Northern Territory’. It was a proud moment for me when I heard Marshall Perron expound that view. Today, we have a minister of the Crown talking about child abuse, and I applaud her for it.
This is a difficult area for people working in the system; nurses, teachers, police and particularly for the staff working in the Child Protection Unit. We are aware that staff in the Child Protection Unit have been under considerable stress and, quite frankly, I cannot think of a more difficult area to work in the public service. I am quite sure that the staff are dedicated and trained people, and I am well aware of the shortage that we have in Australia of people with the qualifications that are needed in this area. It is going to be difficult for the minister to recruit and retain staff to that area. Late last year, the previous minister promised extra millions of dollars in funding to the area of child protection. I hope that this money plus the community support for this action will bear fruit; however, the staffing problems are going to be a continuing issue in whether the minister’s great plans come to fruition.
Several months ago, we had the Estimates process at which I asked the minister questions regarding staffing in the area of child protection. I have been advised, from a question taken on notice, that 12 months ago, in July 2003, there were 100 positions in the area of child protection in the Northern Territory. You will remember that, in December last year, extra money was mooted by government for child protection to increase staffing and resources.
As of 23 June this year, the number of positions has increased by nine to 109. The key question then that had to be asked was how many vacancies out of those 109 positions there are. That question was asked in June, and the answer was 21. So of 109 positions, 21 were vacant. That is just under 20% of the work force for which positions are empty. This will be contributing to the industrial unrest the Child Protection Unit has been experiencing over the past six months. Members will be aware that the union representing the staff of the Child Protection Unit, when they initiated the most unusual action of striking, claimed in the media that the reason they did that was because they felt that if they did not take strike action, they would continue to go down into the mire, which was a very depressing statement to hear from someone representing workers in this vital area.
I am aware of the problems with staffing in the area. I know the staff is obviously under stress because of the action that they have taken. I understand, from a media comment a couple of weeks ago, that this staffing situation has not been resolved yet, but the minister may be able to set us straight on that matter, and that it was still being negotiated at the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. I will be interested to hear from the minister of any update in that area when she responds at the end of this debate.
In the minister’s statement, there is no reference to any progress report being provided to the House and to the community as a whole. I hope the minister will consider providing such a report on progress within the next 12 months or, say, by Christmas next year.
We had some debate in the House several months ago with regards to a call from the Country Liberal Party for an independent inquiry into child abuse. That call was made in response to public comments at the time by Mr Charlie King, who was calling for an independent inquiry. We supported that by also calling for such an inquiry. We have had many reports and this State of Denial report is one of them, but it concentrates specifically on Aboriginal children. Through an inquiry, it would have been interesting to get a good picture or good base line on child abuse across the Northern Territory because Aboriginal people make up about 25% of the population; what about the other 75%? In particular, what I would have been interested in looking at in such an inquiry is the situation with the Child Protection Unit and how it is coping with the increased incidence of reporting from the community.
Hopefully, the minister will be able to respond positively with regard to a review of the situation by, say, Christmas. I know the minister has made comment about being pleased to see the increasing number of complaints being made, or concerns being raised, with regards to specific potential child abuse cases. With the minister, I concede that one of the reasons there could well be an increased number of complaints is because the message is getting out into the community that this is not to be tolerated, and that you can report to someone.
Equally of concern is that I am well aware that the incidence of drug abuse in certain areas of the community appears to be escalating dramatically. If you look, for example, at remote communities on the northern coast of the Northern Territory, there is an incredible amount of cannabis being smoked, to a very harmful level, within those communities. I wonder whether there is a correlation between the increased incidence of reporting child abuse and a perception, one that I certainly have, that there is an increasing usage of illicit drugs in certain communities. I hope that the reason there is an increase in the reporting rate is based solely on the fact that people are feeling more comfortable about seeking help on this matter, and that there is not, in fact, an increase in the incidence of child abuse in the Northern Territory.
I genuinely wish the minister all the very best in this area. We will be watching to see how it goes. I will be looking forward to attending the inaugural meeting of the council tomorrow morning with her. I wish you all the very best, minister.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I commend my colleague, the Minister for Family and Community Services, for introducing this very important and, at times, very powerful statement.
I believe, hearing the member for Port Darwin speak, that there is genuine and sincere support for action to be taken on these terrible activities within our community. As government, we are seeking a bipartisan approach. We do not resile from having proper scrutiny of what the government is doing, but there are many things we can do through a bipartisan approach to address these very difficult problems.
The commitment of a society to the safety of its children is a commitment of a society to its own future. One of the most disturbing things about child abuse and neglect is not just the short-term effects, terrible though these may be. Abuse and neglect have long-term effects on a person, on a family and on a community over years and decades. They undermine the trust we need in each other to work and live together, to solve problems together, to be an inclusive, flexible and open society. That is why we must make protecting our children and young people from harm a crucial commitment of government, and indeed, of this parliament.
Looking at such a difficult set of circumstances that lead to this activity, there has to be an holistic approach. I pick up that one of the major themes of the Minister for Family and Community Services is that doing better in this very difficult area requires a coordinated package of strategies that tackles risk to children, family needs and community needs.
For this government, an important part of the package for protecting children is ensuring that they are protected from ill-health. The Child Health and Wellbeing initiative is a key program this government has introduced in this area. We also need to ensure that our legal system plays its role in making communities safe for children and young people. There are a number of initiatives we have introduced in this area. In both areas, fostering community and family responsibility is a crucial part of our response.
In Building Healthier Communities, our holistic approach is set out in detail. This document was launched in February 2004 by minister Scrymgour and me. Building Healthier Communities makes giving kids a good start in life one of the six top priorities of this government in Health and Community Services. Protecting and nurturing our children is fundamental to making the next generation of Territorians healthier than this one. Giving kids a good start in life may seem an obvious thing to do, but it is only in the last few years that scientific evidence has begun to document how poor child and prenatal health contributes directly to a lifetime of poor health and very often to early onset of chronic disease.
Last week in this House, I spoke about a conversation I had with a nurse at Ambladawatj community in my electorate. She talked about a two year-old child who had already suffered kidney damage as a result of preventable infections arising from the living conditions to which the child was subject. That underlines just how graphic and confronting these connections are now that we have the evidence in front of us. At five years of age, a child can be on a trajectory to a dialysis machine and we have to take these issues on in a very wide context. Protecting children means giving them a fair chance of having an adult life that is healthy and fundamentally sound.
Improving child health can lead to long-term improvements in adult wellbeing, especially for many chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. As well, improving kids’ early years pays off in their education, employment and avoiding antisocial behaviour and crime. It is just so basic: if a kid comes to school with otitis media and can barely hear, it is going to be very difficult to teach them. What we do now for children is deliver better health services, support families, and work to overcome disadvantage. This will have positive effects not just now, but for many years to come.
Looking at our Child Health and Wellbeing initiative, doomsayers are always saying nothing ever changes in Aboriginal health. I do not agree, and I strongly believe we cannot afford to give into such despair or cynicism. There has been progress. What this government aims to do is to ensure that we take a positive attitude and build on success. The Child Health and Wellbeing initiative is a central plank in our contribution to child protection through better child health.
The Child Health and Wellbeing initiative includes funding for 25 additional health staff for rural and remote communities and was a Labor government election commitment at $2.2m. A new Territory-wide child health team has been established for remote communities in the Northern Territory. The multidisciplinary team includes child health nurses, Aboriginal health workers, nutritionalists, Strong Women coordinators, Aboriginal health promotion officers and community child workers. These positions are based in both government and non-government services. Town-based staff are located in Darwin, Nhulunbuy, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. The team has commenced providing program support, training and practical assistance to remote area health centres and communities, and working collaboratively with the health zones.
Coordinators in Central Australia and the Top End are providing leadership and guidance to staff and will ensure a coordinated and consistent approach to evidence-based services and interventions to improve child health outcomes under the guidance of the department’s Program Director for Maternal, Child and Youth Health.
Eighteen of the 18.5 departmental positions have been filled. The team’s priorities are to ensure universal child health monitoring for children in remote communities through the Growth Assessment and Action Program with an emphasis on action for those children who are not thriving, and roll out of the Healthy School-Age Kids program in collaboration with the Department of Employment Education and Training. These will be based on a community development approach based on local needs and include maternal health, early nurturing and care, and child health monitoring for early detection and intervention in problems such as ear disease and hearing loss.
A feature of local planning will be the development of a child health plan in each community. These may start simply and develop over time to a whole-of-community plan involving the school, crche, council and visiting Health and Community Services staff.
This is the biggest single boost ever to child health services in remote Northern Territory communities. It is a best-buy investment in the safety and health of our children, for the health system and for the future of the Territory. The best thing is that the program is recognising and building on our successes. The new resources will be used to support staff and community in work where they have often been trying to fit in, unfunded and un-resourced, around all the other tasks they have to do.
I will quote a few success stories, one being the reduction of childhood anaemia in Darwin rural communities. We are seeing a significant reduction in the rates of childhood anaemia from 52% of children under five years to 19%. These lower rates have been maintained over 12 months. Some large communities have achieved very low rates of 5%.
The Katherine West Health Board has used their funding as part of comprehensive community controlled program to look at child health, including Karu, Kurdu Jarlik: Baby Book, a personal parent-held child health record; Child Health Action Plans for children who are growing poorly or have chronic health problems; child health screening including expanding the 0-5 year-old screening to include surveillance of ear and skin health and annual ear examination for all school-aged children; health education in schools; a 10-week health education program; and kids’ health information days to communicate with communities about the health status of their children.
Through the new Aboriginal Community Worker at Borroloola, the community is increasing its awareness of improving maternal and child health issues. Activities so far include hands-on cooking lessons, one-to-one counselling, shopping guide, home health and hygiene improvements, and improvements to the environment where they live. Importantly, I understand that at Borroloola, husbands and boyfriends are interested in the program. This underlines the important role that men, too, can play in the health of their children.
I am confident that the child health and wellbeing initiative, with other programs, will permanently change the health landscape and, ultimately, the health profile of the Territory.
I turn now to another side of my portfolio responsibilities, justice. Part of our commitment to the Territory’s children is about reforming our child protection system, as we have done through a massive injection of funds and review of the Community Welfare Act. It is about protecting our children against ill-health and ensuring they grow up without the threat of a lifetime of chronic disease, but it is also about reforming our legal and court systems. I would like to describe a number of our key interventions in this area.
I announced the new Sexual Assault Task Force in response to our concerns about the spiked increased in a number of sexual crimes. The primary focus of the task force is reducing the level of sexual offences across the Territory through the development of a targeted whole-of-government sexual assault prevention plan.
The task force is currently investigating Northern Territory data, researching police and legal responses across Australia, exploring service models, particularly in relation to indigenous survivors, and gathering information on the issues facing the reporting, investigation and prevention of sexual assault in remote areas. Whilst primarily focussing on sexual offences against adults, the work of the task force in improving our investigative and criminal justice responses to these crimes will strengthen our responses to offences against young people.
Last year, this government significantly strengthened NT criminal law, introducing legislation that brought about substantial increases in the penalties applied to those who harm our children. These laws toughened up the offences related to sexual intercourse and activity with children, increasing the penalties, creating some new offences and tightening up on inappropriate defences. Prior to these reforms, the maximum penalty for an offence of sexual intercourse or gross indecency with a child was seven years imprisonment where the child was over 14 years, and 14 years imprisonment where the child was under the age of 14. The maximum penalty for this offence has increased to 16 years imprisonment. We also introduced new aggravated offences that attract even higher penalties.
In circumstances where a child is particularly vulnerable, where the offender is not alone, the child is under the authority of the offender, has a serious disability, or is affected by alcohol or drugs, the penalty will increase to 20 years imprisonment. Where a child is under the age of 10, the maximum penalty will be 25 years. These increases send a message to potential offenders that the community will not tolerate sexual interference with our children. These penalties are among the toughest in the nation.
Reforms to the Evidence Act: Australian research tells us that the current operation of the legal system disadvantages children who report sexual assault. That is why, last week, I introduced a raft of reforms to the Evidence Act to allow children and other vulnerable witnesses to give evidence by pre-recorded statement, abolish oral examinations of children at committal proceedings for sexual offences, and amend the Evidence Act in relation to the questioning of witnesses and child witnesses in particular.
Reform to our legal system is just one part of the coordinated package of strategies that this government is putting in place to protect our children and to create safer communities for all Territorians.
Later this year, I will introduce new laws to stop criminals who use or make pornographic material involving children. Our amendments will also update the Criminal Code Act so that those who use new technologies - the Internet, chat rooms, or peer-to-peer computing - to procure child abuse materials are subject to the full force of the law.
Juvenile justice and juvenile detention: we know that all too often, a history of abuse or neglect is a sad fact of life for those young people who commit crime. That is why we are also putting in place measures that, while punishing young people who commit crime, are actively working to get them back on the right track. This government believes that children who break the law should be kept out of detention and with their families wherever possible. We believe kids deserve a better opportunity to succeed.
In March this year, a discussion paper on the Juvenile Justice Act was released for public comment. This is an important review. Many sections and members of the community have strong views on the operation of our juvenile justice system. I am pleased that many members of the community took the opportunity to have their say. On completion of the review process, I look forward to bringing new legislation before this House.
As part of our strategy to prevent crime and build safer communities, we have made significant changes to improve the outcomes of juvenile detention. A new facility has been constructed adjacent to the Don Dale Centre in Darwin at a cost of $1.9m. This is not just a new building. The new facilities are critical to improve detention programs, which aim to address offender behaviour, assist skills development, and meet the rehabilitation needs of juveniles. I must say I went there to have a first look at the new facility yesterday. It is just going to be an amazingly good addition to our juvenile detention capacity. The new facility is expected to be in operation in some eight weeks from now.
Aranda House in Alice Springs will remain as the principal juvenile holding facility for Central Australia. Juveniles stay there on a short-term basis, generally up to four days. Substantial renovations were undertaken at Aranda House recently at a cost $60 000, and further upgrades are likely to take place this year.
Following successful negotiations with the Commonwealth, funding under the Juvenile Diversion Scheme has been extended until 2005, with the program now being administered by the Department of Justice.
Indigenous family violence programs: we know that domestic and family violence place our children at risk, and this is one of the reasons why, through our new partnership with the ATSIC Regional Councils, we are going to run a new indigenous family violence program at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre. This project will be supplemented by community-based family violence programs in four remote communities; two in the Top End and two in Central Australia. These programs will sit alongside the existing projects being run under the Aboriginal family violence strategy.
Community and family responsibility: my colleague, in her statement, made a very powerful point about the need for families and community leaders to come in with us on these very difficult issues and to offer their support and strength to what we are trying to do, be they indigenous or non-indigenous. This is absolutely critical to our success, whether we are working through justice processes, through the processes of FACS or through our health clinics and health centres.
A key feature is that we need to engender renewed community and family responsibility and control over the processes to which we are working. Family and community are vital to our good health. Families are where we get much of our ability to deal with the challenges we face in life. Strengthening and supporting family and community action in health and justice is the key strategy, as I said in this place last week.
Family commitment and action is particularly important for children who are dependent on the adults around them and the environment in which they live. Government can provide funded programs and services but the community, at the individual and collective level, mush also engage the problem. We will support communities in this, particularly by encouraging healthy and supportive roles in both men and women. This is a difficult and sometimes fraught process. It is no good pretending that we or the community or anyone else has all the answers, but we can all give commitment to the process of working with the community and its organisations on these issues.
We cannot do this alone. All members of our community have to be responsible for what they can do to protect the children of the Territory. I join with my colleague, the member for Arafura, in restating the importance of this relationship. As Minister for Justice, I have seen law and justice strategies established in a number of communities and have seen first-hand the strength and determination of these communities in dealing with the issues we have before us today. Yesterday, I announced an extension of the funding to law and justice initiatives through the partnership with ATSIC Regional Councils. Such initiatives and partnerships are a positive step in dealing with a range of problems that face many indigenous communities, including child abuse and neglect.
In conclusion, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, we know that abuse and neglect in all sections of the community is under-reported. While previous governments may have shrugged their shoulders, I do not think there is any value in looking back on the long history of these problems; we have to look forward together and in a bipartisan way. Child abuse is a problem; its affects are devastating and cannot be ignored.
We have to be positive and constructive in addressing these issues, and face them alongside partnerships with the community. This government is putting in place strategies to build healthier and safer communities. By doing so, and by putting the protection of young people at the heart of these commitments, we are protecting the most vulnerable members of our community and are making a commitment to the future of an inclusive, vibrant, safe and healthy Northern Territory.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, from the outset, I thank the minister for her statement, along with the member for Port Darwin. I know that the minister has a deep and genuine personal commitment to this area, as do I, the member for Port Darwin, and my other colleagues.
Having thanked her for the statement, I want to go through some areas because I expected much more. I had a spring in my step last night after about 6 pm because I was really looking forward to this statement. I was very excited, took it back to my hotel room and thought: ‘This will be a late night. I will get stuck into this and will give it lots of consideration’. However, I got to about page 12 and I did not see much that was new or especially innovative. I kept flicking through the pages, did not see a lot there and I will speak to some concerns I have shortly.
It is important at this juncture that I say that there is bipartisan support when it comes to child abuse. That is the case in this parliament and, I would suggest, every parliament not just in this country, but around the world. However, bipartisan support does not mean that we, as an opposition party, simply sit back, read the statement and say ‘Hearty congratulations’ at the end of it. It is incumbent upon us to scrutinise the government, to look beyond some of the words and to drill down on some of the things that are said. I hope that the minister will reply to some of the comments I have to make.
It is a very Labor government looking statement. It makes government look busy. It claims new things on the horizon but, at the end of the statement, very little has been developed so far. It is a bit of a ‘gunna’ statement; gunna do this, gunna do that. In parts, it is not intellectually satisfying. To say that it lacks analysis is something of an understatement.
It read like the sort of statement that someone who actually knew what they were talking about wrote it in the first instance and then it was handed over to the minister’s office where the spin doctors had a bit of a go. You can see throughout, where it seems to be developing a theme and then it just amounts to spin. That is pretty disappointing.
The truth of some of the statements is, I would suggest, highly questionable. I will start with one that is probably the most important in terms of the comments I wish to make, and that is at page 34 of the statement. It says, and I quote:
- What is also undeniable is the considerable achievements attained by this government.
That is at page 34 of a 37 page statement. I have read this a couple of times now. That statement simply cannot be supported, having regard to the contents of this statement. I suggest that even a village idiot could work out that it is not supported. The statement that it is ‘undeniable’ that there have been considerable achievements is wrong having regard to what is contained in this statement. I will go through some of it.
I am quoting particular words. The minister talked about the way forward, developing new legislation and reforms. The statement makes a reference to government inaction in the past, and I will certainly come back to that. The minister said action and not information that is needed now. She said our primary focus will be on preventing all kinds of harm and supporting families, etcetera. She said government must act. She said money alone will not solve the problems. She said we need reform at all levels of our system. She said one of the her key objectives is to increase child abuse awareness and reporting, but did not say how. She said that recruitment of staff is a key focus of the strategy. She said that the department has developed a recruitment strategy, and I note the comments of the member for Port Darwin earlier that 20 per cent of them do not appear to be filled.
The minister said we are enhancing training and professional development for staff. The statement goes on: ‘We are developing a workload management system’ and says elsewhere that they are diligently working with the staff. The minister referred to the formation of a reference group, which is recent. She said we are building economically and socially sustainable communities that are more confident and capable when it comes to child rearing. If I have time I will come back to that, but she certainly did not tell us how.
The minister said the initiatives of the Labor government are to progress an integrated response to children and their families and communities, strengthen cohesion, provide physical profile, community and family support services but did not say how. She said: ‘We’re gunna’. The statement says at page 25:
- We are reviewing our family support programs to ensure that we are targetting more vulnerable families.
It does not give any details of the review; it does not give anything except ‘we are reviewing’. Interestingly, the minister, early on in her statement, said: ‘We are not going to have another review; we have about 20 reviews’. Notwithstanding that, she said: ‘We are reviewing, we are reviewing, we are reviewing’.
She said Child Protection and Disability Services staff will soon be working together under a joint protocol and further that that disability services program is revising and developing. It goes on, I am now up to page 27: ‘We are developing first response guidelines.’ Good on you! ‘We are currently amending or revising ...’. Good on you! It goes on with references, for instance, in relation to gambling: ‘It must be addressed,’ she said. Yes. I am at page 33 now: ‘We will progressively establish service programs aimed at enabling problems to be identified and remedial work to be commenced early and locally’. Good! Can we have some more detail, please? Then at page 35: ‘We will take bold actions …’, bold actions, ‘… when required to protect children.’ I have not seen any and I am up to page 36. That concludes 37 pages.
I think that is very light on. The statement that it is undeniable that there are considerable achievements attained by this government is wrong. I know it is wrong, you know it is wrong, everyone else knows it is wrong. I say that noting, at the same time, the minister’s personal commitment to this. She knows I am serious, but if you think that we are going to sit back and swallow 37 pages of words just because you say so, you are wrong. We do not do it with anything else and we are certainly not about to do it when it comes to child abuse.
There is spin, but there has to be a point at which we collectively nail our colours to the mast and say: ‘No, no, no’. How about on this one we not do spin? Wouldn’t that be good? But, no, alas for this government; they have decided to spin child abuse. Shame on you.
I will go to some other points. I have a very interesting colour coding system through this statement. The green is all the gunna, gunna, gunna and the blue is the areas where I can show beyond a doubt that the statement is light on and we should have been provided with much more information. I can only hope that someone in the minister’s office actually has this information and perhaps the next time a statement is forthcoming, it will be provided. I refer at page five of 37 to the reference to government inaction. That is a gentle slap, it seems to me, at former CLP governments. Former CLP governments should not be slapped. Former CLP governments in this area were cutting edge.
The member for Wanguri obviously finds child abuse very funny. Shame on you, member for Wanguri. Shame on you. When your constituents find out that you were having a bit of a giggle during a statement on child abuse, they will judge you accordingly. You should not be laughing. I find it extraordinary, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, that the member for Wanguri, the Leader of Government Business, is laughing throughout this statement. You should leave if you cannot keep a straight face. Get out of the Chamber! Why are you smiling? Is this funny? I do not think so. We do not think so. Hands up who thinks child abuse is funny! Member for Wanguri, put up your hand. Go on! If you don’t, you should just sit there and you should just shut up!
Mr Henderson: You are pathetic. You are truly pathetic.
Ms CARNEY: Just shut up!
Mrs AAGAARD: A point of order, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker. Surely what the member just said is unparliamentary, and I would ask her to withdraw.
Ms CARNEY: Yes, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I withdraw and replace it with: ‘Be quiet’.
The second point: the CLP was the leading jurisdiction to introduce mandatory reporting of child abuse. Is that noteworthy and important? Yes, it is, and it was done during a period when there was some controversy and yet the CLP administration stuck to their guns and got on with it.
It was the CLP about 20 years ago that head-hunted around the country for a child protection specialist. I think it was under Paul Everingham. I know this because someone very close to me was, in fact, that person, a child protection specialist who was hunted from Adelaide and who came up here. Is there anything in this statement to show that level of commitment from this government on child abuse? If there is, can someone please point it out to me? I have not seen it; I just have not seen it.
Let us go and find some more blue bits. Here we go! I am at page 12 now. This comment is made in relation to increased reporting. It goes on for a number of pages, but it commences on page 12, and says:
- Since the change of government, the number of notifications for abuse of Aboriginal children has nearly doubled. It has increased by 96%.
It does not say, in this statement, why that might be the case. There is no attempt to analyse this. It is just saying that, miraculously, after 18 August 2001, Aboriginal people suddenly thought: ‘Oh, great. We did not report child abuse under the CLP, but now we report child abuse under the Australian Labor Party Northern Territory Branch’? I would not have thought so, but you could draw that conclusion on the basis of this comment. I would like to know, and I think the minister and her colleagues have an obligation to bring this information to the parliament, why has reporting of child abuse gone up in Aboriginal communities? Isn’t that the obvious question? Would it not be great to have an answer?
Also on page 12, the minister said:
- Finally, child abuse in Aboriginal communities is being addressed.
It does not say how. I would like to know. If there are answers being provided or if there is any analysis as to how child abuse in Aboriginal communities is practically being addressed - forget all the spin. How is it being practically addressed? I hope the minister can provide us with an answer.
The minister also said that she is optimistic about overcoming the abuse in remote communities. I want to know the basis of that optimism. That is not borne out anywhere in this statement, on my view. She might say it is, but she would have to agree, surely, that there are many statements but there is really nothing there to back them up. As I was going through it, I kept writing: ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ I ask the minister very sincerely to take that on board.
She referred to, again on page 12:
… the move that government has made to start addressing child abuse in indigenous communities has not been easy.
How? What move? On page 13, she claimed that notifications are increasingly coming from remote communities. May I have a breakdown, please? How many notifications are there? What percentage of those notifications, and from what period, result in substantiated claims? The obvious question to the second paragraph on page 13 is: why?
She referred to 32 new operational staff to join Family and Community Services. Are there any child protection specialists among them? I would like to know, and Territorians would also like to know. I commend her on the development of a recruitment strategy. That is great, but bums on seats is one way to improve matters which, I am sure, she knows.
At page 18, she mentioned that we can help prevent and reduce child abuse and neglect by building economically and socially sustainable communities that are more confident and capable when it comes to child rearing. How? That is not borne out. There are some encouraging programs, and some examples. How is the statement I just quoted page 18 supported? It does not appear to be supported here.
The minister gave a summary of government’s initiatives to progress integrated response to children and their families; strength and cohesion, provide a physical and program profile in the community for child and family support services. How?
She went on, and I am at page 24, to talk about service provision. She said we need to do this in a way that strengthens communities and makes them safer places for children. Yes, but how?
I acknowledge, as we all do, all 25 of us, how difficult it is to stop, and improve, the dysfunction that exists in Aboriginal communities throughout the Northern Territory. How does the minister propose to make those dysfunctional communities safer for children? If there is an answer, I would like to hear it. The spin from this statement is that Labor does have the answers. I would especially like to know the answer to that one.
Unfortunately, I am running out of time, but I will keep ploughing on. On page 25, she said:
- We are reviewing our family support programs to ensure that we are targeting our more vulnerable families.
In the next paragraph, she went onto something else. Again, this is another example of the fact that there is just not enough information to support some of the statements that have been made. I know that the Labor Party people will say: ‘Oh, Carney is being political’. I am not; I want some analysis or points to support some of the incredible claims and statements that are being made; well intentioned on the part of this minister, I might say. Some will say that sounds patronising. It is not; it is not meant to be. She knows very well that I admire her commitment to this area.
However, to produce a statement full of words without analysis has to be, surely, one of the cardinal sins that we, as politicians, and particularly those in government, can commit.
The minister, on page 26, said that she has started to implement a series of measures that will improve the way children with disabilities are protected and families are supported to care for the children. What are they? They are not here. She refers on page 27 to funding to develop a video on sexual assault which reflects community views. That takes up two lines. I would like more information on that: where is it going; where will it be distributed; who will see it; will it be a television ad; will it go to remote communities, urban centres; and so on?
On the same page, 27, she said:
We have reviewed contemporary practice models across Australia, as well as completing a detailed analysis of our Northern Territory data.
Over the page, there is another subject altogether. I would like to know the result of that detailed analysis. I am encouraged because the words ‘detailed analysis’ exist. I would like to think that the details of that analysis can be obtained by members of this Assembly and, in a wider sense, the people of the Northern Territory.
On page 28, the minister said:
- Our school, police, Correctional Services, family support and health staff, just to name a few, are embracing their responsibilities to protect and care for children in difficulty.
Two points: one, it is not new; second, it is the law. So, I am not quite sure why …
Mr Dunham: Third, they always did it.
Ms CARNEY: They always did it. There is a bit of blurb on page 28 about legislative amendments that will better protect children. The first one in terms of the Criminal Code Act is about perpetrators, not victims. If you increase penalties, the evidence, both in Australia and some in places …
Ms CARTER: Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I move that my colleague be granted an extension of time in order to conclude her remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Ms CARNEY: Research, off the top of my head, and I have files of this stuff, is that it is not always the case that increasing penalties translates to a reduction in the number of offences.
Let us be honest: this statement about ‘we are going to legislate to better protect children’ is about getting stuck into the offenders, and people with any level of expertise in this field, unlike the member for Wanguri who, at least, is not smiling anymore, know that there is a high re-offending rate, particularly among those who sexually abuse children.
I remind members what I said in this Chamber on 25 November last year, a significant day in more ways than one. I said of the government’s legislation that passed in the House in the wee hours of the morning of the 26th and I quote:
- … I have some well-founded reservations about the proposed increase in sentences for child abusers. This, no doubt, sounds astonishing, as all good citizens believe that convicted child abusers should spend more time in gaol. The practical realities, however, mean that the proposal is not so simple, and I note with great interest that there has been little or no comment on this from anyone in this House or, indeed, the public arena.
I went through and outlined, on the face of it, the laudable proposal that penalties be increased. I then went through and outlined the possible consequences for offenders, that is, if they are looking down the barrel of a 25 year sentence they may indeed go all the way to hearing. In other words, they will not plead guilty at an early stage as happens on occasion. In other words, these people will, in all likelihood, go all the way to hearing and that means that children will be giving evidence. I said on 25 November and I quote:
- This will be occurring at a time when all jurisdictions are actively seeking to minimise these kinds of harm to children by enacting a variety of measures to avoid them having to give evidence or to give it only once.
- I am compelled to ask whether any thought has been given to the potentially increased risk to children as a result of significantly increased sentences for child abuse. It is possible that an offender may contemplate seriously injuring the child or worse if facing what amounts to a life sentence.
Are there good parts of it? Absolutely. Is the minister committed to this area? Absolutely, unlike the laughing member for Wanguri. In particular, I will welcome the Community Welfare Act in November, and I have had numerous discussions with the minister about that. When the Community Welfare Act was born, I think in about 1982 or 1983, it was regarded as a pretty good act. It was, again, cutting edge. The Northern Territory led the way. Has it dated? Yes. Does it need a review? Absolutely.
However, what all of us, all 25 I hope, want to see is the Northern Territory continuing to take its rightful place in this country by saying that we are at the cutting edge of child abuse and preventing child abuse, and making the legislative arrangements that are important in that regard. So am I looking forward to the new Community Welfare Act? More than many people will ever know.
As I said earlier, the minister referred to gambling and said it must be addressed. Again, I ask: how? What is being done? How will it be done? That does not emerge. It is paragraphs put together for the most part, I will be fair, without any follow through.
There are some interesting comments in relation to the Aboriginal community but, again, no details as to how things will be done. When you go to a town camp, for instance, in Alice Springs, as I did and the most recent one I went to was probably about three weeks ago and you see the squalor, the poor hygiene and conditions that those kids live in, I felt absolutely ashamed, appalled, disgusted.
I remember issuing a media release not long after the Jackie Pascoe case surfaced. That must have been in about October 2002. The heading for that media release was: ‘There is no sliding scale of child abuse’. I hope that this government and the minister do not adhere to the view that there is a sliding scale of child abuse. There are little kids running around the town camps that are in all of our electorates and, for some members, their entire electorates are made up of Aboriginal communities, some doing less well than others. None of us can say that many of those little kids are not abused. The minister, early in her statement, was at pains to say we are just not talking about sexual abuse; we are talking about physical and emotional abuse, and so on. I cannot see those little kids in some of those town camps or communities who are not being abused. They are malnourished. They do not go to school. They are living in squalor that their parents just throw out and let their kids sit there. There are camp dogs running around. Now, if that is not child abuse, I would like to know what is.
Is it easy to solve? No, it is not easy to solve. I hope that these words, these paragraphs connected together to make this statement actually understand that there is no sliding scale of child abuse. If the minister is serious about tackling it and asking people in the Aboriginal community to step up to the plate, then there will have to be some significant changes. I do not think these changes could have been made, frankly, under the CLP. The reason for that is that had we, the CLP, been more proactive when it comes to the Aboriginal community and child abuse, we would have been vilified and tossed around all over the place.
We would have had people in Australia, those noisy commentators and others, and probably around the world saying: ‘You pack of racists’. This Labor government, strangely enough, seems to get away with saying the sorts of things on occasion that the CLP said, but they get away with it because they are a Labor mob. If, by the existence of a Labor government in the Northern Territory, they can effect far reaching change in some of these Aboriginal communities, well and good. We know some of these communities are dysfunctional, are disgusting, are clearly unhygienic and some, not all, you would have to say, breed child abuse given the definition of child abuse as it is universally accepted but certainly under the existing definitions in Part 4 of the Community Welfare Act, which deals with deprivation, impairment, malnutrition and so on. I need not go through that.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I have had an extension of time. I could go on and on and on because this is a special interest of mine. I have been interested in this as a lawyer; I was interested in this at university; I have files of information when it comes to child welfare and child abuse, all forms. I did have spring in my step when I took this statement home to the hotel last night. What a great disappointment. It is an opportunity lost. I heartily commend the minister for her passion, but we need a bit more than that.
Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the minister on such a wide ranging and visionary statement to this House on how we as a government are going to systemically tackle the issue of child abuse in the Northern Territory.
It is very disappointing that the previous speaker decided to turn what was essentially a unique individual contribution along the lines of a bipartisan approach in to some sort of political football. That is just hype; but it is the patronising and paternalistic rant that we have come to expect from the member for Araluen.
She talked about spin and said that this statement was full of spin. As police minister, I have said before that this parliament can pass all the laws in the world to try to redress any number of criminal and social problems in the Northern Territory, but the fundamental issue is that if you do not back up the service delivery agencies with resources, and if you do not back up the police with resources to enforce the laws, then talk about spin; it is just rhetoric. You can have all the laws in the world, but without backing them up with resources on the ground, funding for the agencies, additional resources to the law enforcement agency, as sure as eggs are eggs, you are going nowhere.
The member for Araluen said this is all spin and nothing has happened. I commend my colleague, the member for Nightcliff, who, as health minister, presented a submission to Cabinet some 12 to 18 months ago pointing out the paucity of resources in the Family and Children’s Services area to deal with what was very quickly becoming a crisis in the capacity of that agency to deliver services to children in need. I commend the member for Nightcliff for bringing that submission to Cabinet, and I can say it was one of the quickest decisions we have made as a Cabinet, to commit significant additional funding to that part of the Health Department. So significant was it, I think, if you do the sums, it was a 155% increase in funding from the last budget of the previous CLP administration to the current budget of this Labor government.
For the member to be so patronising of, and insulting to, our minister and say this is all platitudes, it is all spin, you are doing nothing, there is a $20m budget. It is a real insult to those people in the department who, every day, as my colleague, the minister, was saying, and we all know, go out into extraordinarily difficult, traumatic circumstances to try to make a difference. The member for Araluen waltzing in here with her hand on her heart professing to have had a life long interest in this area and said that it is nothing but spin and we are doing nothing is an absolute insult to every one of those people who work in that agency and daily encounter situations that most of us would probably never countenance.
I totally deny that this government is indulging in spin on this issue. It was a pretty pathetic effort from the member for Araluen, the bleeding heart of the CLP. It was an extraordinary to essentially argue for a softening or weakening of sentences that this parliament passed in November last year for the perpetrators of child abuse. If the member for Araluen wants to walk out the door, and this is now CLP policy, they are actually going to wind back these penalties, then I cannot wait to see that because I am sure the other nine members will crunch her in the party room on that. She is probably the only member in this parliament who believes that those increases in sentencing were not warranted, given that we probably have the highest incidence of child abuse in Australia. It is a sign, from this parliament and from the people of the Northern Territory, that it will not be tolerated, and if you are convicted of abusing children, whether it is sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, or whatever the type of abuse, if you are convicted, you will face a stiff penalty.
That the member for Araluen would argue that we should be watering down those sentences, again, defies belief. I am sure that she will not put that in her electorate newsletter: ‘Today I stood up in the parliament and called for a reduction in sentences for people who abuse children in the Northern Territory’, because that is essentially what she said this evening.
As a government, we have tried to address this issue across a number of agencies. I would like to talk about the role that the police play. The member for Araluen warbled on about us doing nothing and it all being spin. I would like to point to the significant increase in funding for Family and Children’s Services, and the additional $75m for 200 police for the Northern Territory Police Service because the capacity for police to respond to cries of help across the Northern Territory have, very definitely, been enhanced by this increase in funding.
We all know that police deal with the crimes and the misery of these appalling offences every day: in General Duties, CIB, Domestic Violence Unit and through the specialised Sexual Crimes Unit. I have visited the Domestic Violence Unit at Nightcliff, and spoken to officers who deal with these issues on a day-to-day basis. In my early time as police minister in talking to police across Darwin and Alice Springs, there were tensions because police were confronted with issues of allegations of child abuse and there was a lack of resources in Family and Children’s Services, as it was 12 to 18 months ago, to refer people on. I do not even think back in those days, given the paucity of resources in Family and Children’s Services in Darwin, there was even a 24-hour …
Mr Dunham: Rubbish.
Mr HENDERSON: … on call, 24 by 7, Family and Children’s Services staff on board to take calls after hours. The member for …
Mr Dunham: Well, you must have cut it out …
Mr HENDERSON: No, no. The member for Drysdale says ‘Rubbish’. All I am saying is what we encountered.
There has been a significant increase to funding to both FACS and police, and that is part of our commitment to doing the job as opposed to the rhetoric of the member for Araluen. I will give a specific example of how the increase in funding is making a difference in this child abuse area in the Northern Territory: our commitment to the Kintore Police Station. I spoke about it in the House the other day.
It was a very emotional time when I opened that police station some six or eight months ago, to see the dysfunction in that community as a result of no police presence; the fact that the health clinic many times a week was closed down when women were presenting to the clinic with their children seeking refuge from drunken, hostile perpetrators of abuse, not only on women and children, but the clinic was being bunkered down on many occasions. I talked to teachers at the school who said they could not keep teachers in that community because, essentially, the level of substance abuse, property crime and theft in the community meant there was a turnover in teachers. Children could not sleep at night so they were not going to school. In the previous period of six months, the health clinic had been closed about 73 times. We now have a police station with four officers and in the six months that it has been open, not once have women and children had to seek refuge in the health clinic at that community.
The member for Araluen talked about us doing nothing; it is all spin. There is a lot to do, and we in this parliament, and the people of the Northern Territory, cannot afford a fully-fledged police station and four coppers in every indigenous community in the Northern Territory. However, we are working very hard across government to try to address very significant issues, not only of child abuse, but violence in our community. In a spirit of bipartisan support, some recognition of that fact from the member from Araluen, the bleeding heart of the CLP, would not have gone astray.
We know that many of the issues relating to child abuse go back to substance abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, petrol sniffing and dysfunctional communities. As well as introducing a raft of legislation, we acknowledge these issues up-front and will be relentless in our pursuit of people who peddle drugs in our communities. Giving police extra resources means that they can do better in tackling the grog runners in those communities, people who peddle petrol and people who are taking large amounts of marijuana into remote communities. We are going to have two drug dogs by the end of the year. The primary role of those dogs will be to enforce drug laws in relation to drugs being run into remote communities. We are not saying we have fixed the problem, but we have acknowledged the scourge of drugs and substance abuse in our community and we are doing what we can to make a real effort there.
The new police plane: $2.3m for a new police plane in Alice Springs to enable police to respond quicker to remote communities in the event of not only instances of child abuse but violence and crime in the community. Again, a sign of a government not indulging in the age old political art of spinning an issue, but real money, real resources, real people on the ground trying to make a difference.
The member for Araluen talked about malnourished kids living in squalor. Yes, we have all seen it and it is a tragedy and a blight on the Northern Territory. It has been a problem for many years. But to say: ‘We could never really try to do anything about it, we could not try to address the problems because we would have been called racist’ is an absolute flight of fancy! It sounded to me like a total excuse for abrogating responsibility to have a go in a very difficult area. My colleague did not say in her statement tonight that she has the answers, but, by goodness, we will have a go and we have called for bipartisan support to have that go. The member for Araluen’s claim that: ‘We could not have a go because anything we would have done would have been tagged racist’ really does not stand up intelligent scrutiny or comment. It is a patently ridiculous assertion.
The minister referred to the significant amount of additional money to Family and Children’s Services and I have talked about police. My colleague, the Justice minister, talked about additional money for the corrections system. Even the member for Araluen recognised that you have repeat and serial offenders who often end up in our prison system. Through the review carried out recently by the government, it is a public document, we can see that there was an absolute paucity of programs in our institutions to try to stem the tide of re-offending. We have put significant extra money into Corrections, into rehabilitation programs, to try to stem the tide of re-offending. That is not spin; that is a commitment by this government to tackle crime and child abuse in the Northern Territory.
The Attorney-General introduced legislation this week to further protect children giving evidence on not only sexual abuse but other abuse in a court. That is not spin; that is legislation to empower children to tell their stories, to come forward without fear of intimidation through the legal system. That is not spin; that is commitment by this government.
I will be introducing legislation on Thursday, consistent with commitments made by all other police ministers across Australia, introducing a child sex offenders register that will require anyone convicted of a child sexual offence, including sexual intercourse, gross indecency and child pornography, to submit their personal details to police to be entered on to a police database for a period that is determined by the courts or default.
The public and parents deserve every confidence in the adults to whom they entrust their children in care, and that is a commitment that is being made nationally. Yes, the civil liberties lobby will say it is an onerous requirement placed on people once they have done the crime and done the time. Well, this government does not buy that. The level of re-offending is high, serial offending is high and the requirement for people to lodge those details so that the police can very quickly eliminate certain suspects from their inquiries when child abuse is reported, I hope, will achieve bipartisan support in this House. There will be very stiff penalties for people who do not submit themselves to the registrar or change their details when they move.
The member for Araluen’s claim that this statement is about spin and the government is doing nothing does not stand up to the facts about what we are doing with a significant investment of people and resources. At the end of the day, it is the people on the ground who are dealing with these tragic cases who deserve the support of every member in this House rather than being accused of indulging in government spin for a government that is good on rhetoric and short on facts.
There are many facts. I have put them on the table here tonight. I am sure my colleague, the Minister for Family and Children’s Services, will add to those tonight when she wraps up this statement.
The issue of child abuse is something that this government takes with the utmost seriousness. We have put in significant additional resources across various portfolios: health, police and corrections. There is a big tide to turn around. We are not saying we have all of the answers, but we are committed to doing what we can.
I urge all members to support the minister’s statement. I call on all members of this parliament to work to turn around child abuse in our community. It is not acceptable. This parliament should say, at every step, that it is not acceptable and we should collectively get behind the minister and get behind this statement.
Mr DUNHAM (Drysdale): I will start with a quote, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker. It is relevant to child abuse. I will come back to it later, but I will read it as a stepping stone into my speech, and the quote is this:
- Women with scarcely the articles of apparel, which common decency requires, with forms bloated by disease and faces rendered hideous by habitual drunkenness, men reeling and staggering along, children in rags and filth, whole streets of squalid and miserable appearance whose inhabitants were lounging in the public road, fighting, screaming, swearing.
What we are talking about here does cross many portfolios, the police minister is dead right. He is dead right that you cannot have a health minister speak about child abuse by themselves; they have to talk across all areas and it does have to be an holistic approach.
We should, though, set the scene for this speech. First, the minister said there have been years of neglect, which I believe to be untrue and which I believe to be a slight on the same public servants the previous speaker spoke about. There have not been years of neglect in this area. We have had a recent history of a front page of a small child smoking a bong; we have had Mr Perrin from the teachers’ union commenting negatively about government policy in this area; we have had Mr Ellis from the Welfare Workers Union commenting negatively about government policy in this area; we have had Charlie King, Territorian of the Year, commenting negatively about sexually transmitted disease increases in this area; and we have had a story about a child abandoned and handed into the BP service station in Katherine recently.
The government has feeding programs for children who are attending school hungry that amount to some hundreds of thousands of dollars. We have statistics available to us that are of dubious use, and that has been admitted by the CEO of the Health Department; when comparing last year to this year, there is no comparison. Last year’s figures are useless and this year’s figures are equally useless.
Of the statistics that are available, we can see from the budget papers, for instance, notifications have gone up 223% from 1997-98 to 2000-03; we have seen children in care go up from 246 to 347 to May this year; and we are seeing problems with drugs on communities, problems with drugs in town, problems with societal change for the worst.
It is in that environment that we are discussing this. It would be a very brave or foolhardy minister who would make any pronouncements about changing any of these things quickly, but I applaud the fact that the current minister is seemingly serious about this issue, and I will give her due in that area. I will judge her on what happens.
However, I warn that our environment is not good. Many of these small children are at risk of death, disfigurement, disability and, in many cases, to be scarred emotionally and physically from what is happening today in these communities in the Northern Territory.
It is therefore a very important and emotional subject. It is a subject that must be debated and it is incumbent on all of us to make contributions that are, if critical, at least constructively critical so that at least we can reach a position where things will get better rather than worse. All of the statistics indicate things are getting worse. I was not happy to hear the minister say that she is quite comfortable with the statistics increasing. I would be most uncomfortable, if I were the minister, to utter words of this type. I quote from her speech:
- This statement might sound strange, but I want this number to increase.
That is, the number of child abuse notifications:
- The reason I say that is because I believe, and research supports me, that child abuse is grossly under-reported.
Now, it may well be under-reported, but our aim is to have child abuse notifications, substantiations and the actual incidence thereof decrease. It is no comfort to this House to have ministers saying: ‘It has gone up, but I told you, and that a very healthy sign because it means that people who were a bit wary about reporting in the past are now reporting’.
I was disappointed, too, that there was a political spin put to Aboriginal people reporting, for instance. That is in the statement. She said:
Since the change of government …
meaning that previously, there was a different situation, but since the government has come in, they have been able to force this change:
- … the number of notifications for abuse of Aboriginal children has nearly doubled; it has increased by 96%.
That is an interesting statement. It could be that there is a growing tide of disaffection and horror at this fairly common crime on Aboriginal communities. We know that to be the case because all of us have Aboriginal people coming to us, particularly women, who are drawing a line in the sand about some of these forms of offence that have been hidden behind various excuses in the past, including culture. It is for that reason that the matter is on the table in this House to be discussed, and we should not shy away from it.
If the minister is comfortable that the government can claim the credit for the nearly 100% increase in the three years that they have been in government, one also has to look at the fact that general notifications have increased by 223% in the five year period 1997-98 to 2002-03, from the minister’s statement. They are going up, whether they are black kids or white, they are going up at a remarkably high rate. It is not a rate in which we should take satisfaction about conveying the sense of community umbrage and disgust at this crime. They are going up because they are substantiated. Many of them are related to breakdowns in society’s mores and standards, and that is true of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities.
My own history is important because all of us can say how we have been involved in this area. I worked in the department that had responsibility for this act, not in that particular division, which was the Welfare Division of the Department of Community Development. I was there in 1983 when this act came into being. The act came into being because there was a particularly heinous crime that occurred with the death of a small child here. It transpired that the child and its family had been in contact with many organisations, both non-government and government, including the hospital. All of them had suspicions that the child was being abused, but there was no central point to which to refer it, and those suspicions generally came to well-meaning people who thought: ‘On the next occasion that this client presents, I am going to be vigilant about this and keep an eye on it’. Unfortunately, the child died before that could happen.
In 1983, a very courageous government decision was made, and that was to introduce universal mandatory reporting of child abuse. When it happened, there was great fear and trepidation because there was a fear that there would be frivolous, vexatious and other complaints that would have neighbourhood squabbles escalated to being notifications of child abuse. To our great horror, we found that was not the case. We found, like the minister is now trying to tell us, that it was significantly under-reported. What has to happen is people have to be told two things: first, it is their responsibility. It is not a matter of waiting for them to go to the hospital, the police or next time they go to child care. It is their responsibility, all of us, including in this room, as the member for Sanderson found out having heard his anecdote of coming across child abuse himself; the second thing is there is a place for it to go. They were the two things that were decided.
There is a report that is a little bit old, it is 1998-99, which goes through the mandatory reporting requirements for each state. This is as recent as five or so years ago: in New South Wales, medical practitioners are required by law and there is a policy for school teachers, social workers and others; in Victoria, specifics of professional groups who notify are doctors, nurses and police, mandated; Queensland, medical practitioners and Education has a policy; Western Australia, there is no mandatory reporting; South Australia, medical practitioners, nurses, dentists, psychologists, police, probation officers, social workers, teachers, family day care providers, employees of or volunteers in government departments, agencies and local government that provide health, welfare, education, child care or residential services; Tasmania, the following professionals - medical practitioners, registered nurses, probation officers, child welfare workers, school principals, kindergarten teachers, and welfare workers; and the ACT - doctors, dentists, nurses, police officers, teachers, school councils, public servants working in child welfare, licensed child care providers.
In the Northern Territory, it has mandatory for any person since 1983. Before you start saying there was a shocking history of neglect, be aware that brave moves were made. There was publicly available data published throughout Australia. We inevitably came out on that data fairly high. We continued to take that policy line because we believed it was in the best interests of the child. That is what we are talking about: what is in the best interests of the child?
This report is 1998-99. The Community Care Information System was being introduced about that time so that the data could be collected on types, reporting and substantiation rates and, of course, other data including age, Aboriginality, etcetera. So, it was in place here.
Another thing that was in place was 24-hour call out. In Katherine, where there are two or three welfare workers, that was a pretty hard thing. Someone was on call for a whole week, and then their colleague was on call for the next whole week. The minister said: ‘We came into government, and you know what? We had to introduce 24-hour call-out’. I know there was 24-hour call-out and it existed in 1984 in Katherine, Tennant Creek and Gove. There are welfare workers out there who hear this statement and the years-of-neglect argument, and they know they were on-call. They know they went into dangerous and troublesome situations. They know that in small towns like Katherine and Tennant Creek, they knew the perpetrators and the family and others. They knew that, often, they had to ring the police and go to these places. Please do not reinvent this; it is something that has been around for a while.
There should be no sense of shame about what took place in the Northern Territory in terms of government’s reaction to this incredible problem. Neither should we be complacent about changing it nor have any sense that ‘we have cracked the code; we have worked out how it is; it is all fixed up from here’ just because some things are changing. We tried to tell the government this when they went looking at issues relating to drugs very early in their career as a government. I recall that my contribution was to say that they should look at marijuana and at Aboriginal communities; they should put them both on the list and that they would see that there is a growing problem in Aboriginal communities relating to mass media.
A long time ago, if you lived at Lajamanu, you knew what was going on at Lajamanu and not many other places and, if you wanted to ring up, you used the radio telephone. Now, people are inundated with information, and that is a good thing and a bad thing. The bad thing about it is that there are a significant number of inappropriate videos going to those communities and there is significant enhanced access to a lot of other inappropriate material. There are many drugs of abuse going into those communities that previously did not because of their remoteness. Things are changing, and they are changing quickly. Some of those things, as said in my opening quote, will have an impact on communities, grog being the biggest. Grog is the biggest contributor to child abuse. Gambling is right up there. The minister mentioned that in her statement, and I am glad she did.
I recall being with minister Reed in the Tennant Creek Hospital talking to the board and there was a significant argument between health and welfare practitioners about what constituted child abuse, particularly neglect, so it is a vexed issue that has been around that long. An Aboriginal health worker piped up and said the issue is gambling. The issue with gambling is 15 people pool their money in a game, one walks a winner and 14 walked away losers. The one who is the winner turns it into something that cannot sustain the other 14, like a bike or ghetto blaster or something, with pride in their winnings, and the other 14 go hungry.
This is a big issue for this parliament. When we talked about gambling before, it was seen as a tax and Treasury-type issue. This is an issue of society’s construct. Let us talk about gambling, grog, and feeding program in schools. If you are going to feed kids in schools, you have to know why you are doing it. You have to know why you are giving food as succour to a hungry child. There are calls for teaching people to fish instead of giving them a fish and they will live forever. That has come from the government side. The government should re-read its Supporting Families policy from the last election. They should look at some of their guiding principles:
- Government should offer support to all parents so they can better support their children rather than trying to substitute for parents. There needs to be a clear understanding of the rights and responsibilities that fall to families and to government.
I agree with that. That is pretty much our policy, too.
If you make a policy that says ‘we have chosen to intervene in this community, this society, this family, this individual, we are going to intervene, as the government, in your life’ and you come to this place and we make a law to enable us to do it, you have to understand the fundamentals of it. You have to know why you are doing it. If we are feeding hungry children, we have to know why we are doing it. If it is merely to sustain them, there is a significant issue about their parents’ capability to do it because they either cannot or will not feed their children. If it is an enticement to go to school, that is probably a good, albeit short-term, solution to it. If it is a kneejerk reaction to the fact that there are lot of hungry kids out there, there are other ways to doing it.
I recall the policy being a little bit critical of single mums. My daughter is a single mum and I think many single mums do a pretty good job, her in particular. I know many single parents. I quote from the Labor policy again:
- Children need stability and security. Many lone parents raise their children every bit as successfully as couples, but a strong two-parent family unit as the surest foundation for raising children remains the choice of majority of people.
That is true, but if you look at the statistics the minister has given us, in single parent female families, 40% of child abuse statistics derived from these families, closely followed by two-parent families, which is what? Thirty-nine per cent. We need to be very careful about saying we need an Aboriginal policy, single parent policy, low socio-economic group policy, women from a non-English speaking background policy. Be aware that child abuse is randomly distributed through society. Millionaires abuse their kids. People who are politicians abuse their kids. People who are dentists and doctors and lawyers abuse their kids.
This is not a situation where we can politely sit back and say: ‘All those nasty people abuse their kids’. Sometimes, the children in those communities find themselves in parlous circumstances because of their environment. Their parent might have every bit of goodwill in the world but be incapable of knowing how to or having the capability of sustaining and feeding and clothing those kids.
In today’s Australia, it has to be pretty rare that someone does not have that wherewithal. The issue is whether it is a priority for them, and whether it is a helpful thing for government to say: ‘You don’t need to spend that $50 a week because we will do if for you; we will feed your kid’, or ‘Here is the clothes program’, or whatever. The prognosis for such a program is not good, and it is not good for kids. As an immediate interim measure, the wellbeing of the child is paramount. If they are starving, feed them. However, as a generic program across racial groups, it is not that smart.
On the matter of politics and spin, I remember going to a ministerial council when Denis Burke first became health minister and we went to Hobart. There were about five items relating to child abuse on the agenda. They had all been listed by New South Wales. We were quite interested to have the debate. A strong debate was raging at that stage out of Western Australia, which did not want mandatory universal reporting. The Commonwealth was seeking to find a position for itself on what is essentially a state matter and looking for national programs that would have state support. Just before we got to debate all the New South Wales material, it turned out that the secretary of the department, much to the embarrassment of the minister, Dr Refshauge, admitted that it was all a big ruse; they were all hollow policies that were not supported in the department or in any other way. That all fell off the paper. This is a matter for history.
Mr KIELY: A point of order, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker. I do not believe you are allowed to refer to another member of parliament in such a way.
Mr DUNHAM: What way?
Mr Kiely: You just said he said it was a ruse.
Mr DUNHAM: No, no. The CEO said it, and the minister pulled them all off the paper. The minister did the right thing, so I am not attributing nefarious motives to him. What I am trying to say is that …
Mr Kiely: What you say!
Mr DUNHAM: Hey?
Mr Kiely: What you say.
Mr DUNHAM: Okay. It is a matter for history. What I am trying to say is that if you are like the minister and you stand up and - may I have an extension?
Ms CARTER: Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I move an extension of time in order that my colleague may conclude his remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Mr DUNHAM: I shall be quick. I do not think the minister can say: ‘I am brave. I have raised the issue of child abuse and I have said “Some Aboriginal people have to step up to the plate”.’ That is not an issue of bravery; it is an issue of raising it for debate. We have to have the bravery to say to the minister: ‘That is not smart; it does not work’, because we have to be frank in this debate.
The minister for police talked about my colleague, the member for Araluen, being patronising and paternalistic. ‘Patronising’ and ‘paternalistic’ are derived from the same Latin word pater meaning father. There is a place for paternalism in welfare programs. Why else would you have them? Why would you have them if you did not have the sense of a caring, nurturing person in a senior, capable role helping someone who is less capable? The breakfast program is paternalistic; straight-up paternalistic. It may be a good program. All I am saying is be careful throwing words like that around when, essentially, what they mean is: ‘We are trying to help and we are trying to care’.
When the minister for police said that we have insulted everyone in the agency because we said this or that, that is exactly my point about your little excursion into history when you said it has been neglected for so long. He then told us how you can tell the bona fides of the government because they bought a police plane! ‘We bought a police plane, we have more prison guards and there is a police station at Kintore. Therefore, we are helping out in a big way’. I despair! It demonstrates a massive misunderstanding of child abuse. The whole focus in this area is preventative. Its whole focus is educative, preventative and helping and caring and nurturing. When the policemen kick down the door with the jack boots and when the bloke goes to the gaol, you have missed the mark. That is an indicator of failure, not of success. Do not say it is an holistic approach across government and we now have a police plane that can fly in and jump on these perpetrators of child abuse.
I point out, too, in relation to the bill on the Table to protect children giving evidence, vulnerable witness evidence reforms were made by the CLP government many years ago. I point out also that my colleague, the member for Daly, as a minister, did significant work with the Stolen Generation group, not just by addressing issues of family reunification, family contact and getting data and information to people, but moving forward and saying: ‘What we need is more foster carers. What we need is more grandmas. What we need is strong women, strong babies, strong culture. What we need is programs of this type’. We did it. It was not theoretical; it was pragmatic and it yielded results.
This government, being the only one that does not share the odium of the Stolen Generation because of the youth of this parliament, nonetheless, did the most, I suggest, of any jurisdiction. A significant issue with the Stolen Generation is the government taking children into care because they believed they were at risk. That is happening today. There are significant numbers of Aboriginal children being taken into care because they are potentially at risk and they are not being cared for by Aboriginal carers. This is something that should not be silent in the speech. The minister knows that because she was questioned in Estimates about it. A big thing you can do is a recruitment drive for Aboriginal carers for those children who find themselves in situations where they have to be removed from their family - today.
The education programs that were put in place by the previous government were very good. The Strong Women, Strong Babies, Strong Culture I have talked about; it was very good. Some of the work we did with Aboriginal groups was very good. One of the biggest problems the Territory has faced in terms of a government department or withdrawal in recent years has been ATSIC’s decision to de-fund women’s centres. They had a big social impact on communities. It has taken a long time to redress issues not just relating to mothercraft, craft, art, social programs, CDEP, nutrition programs, meals on wheels and all the rest of it, but it took a long time to redress that. I believe it is to ATSIC’s everlasting shame that they chose to cut those programs in a demonstration that the cuts from the government would be harshly felt, and they were.
‘No child will be living in poverty …’ is a very famous quote from a very famous Labor politician, but there is no doubt that matters relating to unemployment and poverty have a big impact on children being at risk.
The government should go back to its position paper and consider about some of its promises, like growth in Territory jobs and income. That has not happened. If you really want to talk about holistic stuff, let us march out of here, and let us hear from your education minister and some of the others. Please do not hide behind tangible kit and equipment like aeroplanes, police stations and prison guards to tell us that you are addressing child abuse because that is back end and this is entirely front end.
I will leave it there. However, like other speakers before me, I would be very surprised if 25 people in this House do not support any initiative to reduce child abuse and do not take a very serious view of it notwithstanding some of the chortling that took place a bit earlier from one of the members. The bona fides of this House will be whether we can debate this in a frank way instead of the back patting and the ‘I think you are a very good person, minister, with great bona fides’. It has to be focussed on the programs, the policies and how we go about it, not on any personal characteristic of the minister.
Ms LAWRIE (Karama): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the Minister for Family and Community Services for making what I see as a clarion call with her statement today, that we are all here to bear the responsibility of protecting our children. The minister reiterated the commitment of the Martin government to undertake fundamental reforms of the child protection services sector, and to enhance our working partnerships with families, children and, importantly, service providers.
There is no doubt the statistics in her statement are an indictment. For too long, our community, through the failure of leadership from previous governments, has let down children in need. I have spoken in this Chamber before of the shock I felt when returning to Darwin in the mid-1990s. I witnessed people ignoring a child foraging through a bin searching for food in a local shopping centre. Shoppers in our suburbs just walked by. I could not walk by; I could not ignore the hunger, and took the child to a food outlet and fed them and their younger siblings. The children looked at me wide-eyed, a stranger reaching out to help them without fanfare. They felt safe enough to accept the food and drink from me because I had a babe in arms and was pregnant.
I promised myself then I would not turn my back on a single Territorian child in need that I came across. It is a promise I have managed to keep. I am now far more able to help through my position in government and my role as a local member. Since my election, I have worked with local families to address cycles of abuse and neglect, most effectively through encouraging neighbours to report suspected abuse or neglect directly to FACS. Any case brought to my attention has been reported. I have held countless discussions with leaders in our community of Karama and Malak about our responsibility to reach out to children in need.
I am proud to say that our schools are doing a terrific job of working with supporting families to address the needs of disadvantaged children. It is a collaborative of effort. Each school has its own method, but all are innovative in their actions to address the needs of children.
Karama School has benefited from a government initiative to strengthen families with funding of $140 000. The school council is working with FACS to implement an innovative program targeting young mothers. Manunda Terrace School has received additional funding from DEET to work with children from remote communities living in Darwin. These children are based at the Christian Outreach Centre or Knuckeys Lagoon, where new accommodation is now available thanks to the Harmony Project. Previously, many of these kids were living in the long grass. So, yes, it is a whole-of-government approach that we are taking to protect our children and, yes, there are preventative measures in place, measures that were not there previously.
Both Karama and Manunda Terrace schools have breakfast programs in place that are feeding some 30 to 40 children each morning. I acknowledge the work done by Red Cross and its volunteers to run these programs. I thank the staff and parents who have embraced these breakfast programs and volunteered their time every morning to ensure that children are fed. I am perplexed by the member for Drysdale’s refusal to accept that breakfast programs have a role in our community. He still fights against the reality that breakfast programs are working and providing a meaningful improvement to children’s lives.
Malak Primary School, too, is being innovative, working closely with local youth organisations such as the YWCA to address recreation needs at recess and lunch, to encourage healthy attitudes and behaviour with children who have struggled against the odds. I say ‘struggled against the odds’ because some of these primary-aged children are out on the streets at night, often as late as 1 am midweek, wandering around because home is not a good place to be.
Malak and Karama are benefiting from another initiative of the Martin government, with Wellbeing teachers being placed in the schools to work with teachers, staff, parents and students to assist needy children. These Wellbeing teachers are additional teachers placed in the schools at Karama and Malak. I have meet with both Wellbeing staff, and heard school council discussions about how they can work with them to address the needs of these children who, far too often, have been falling through the cracks of service provision.
I have worked with Youth Beat, another Martin government initiative identified in the minister’s statement, to work with these children and create links with FACS, the juvenile justice diversionary program, YWCA and local schools to address the needs of these kids; to pick them up and try to get them off the streets and try to sort out the complex issues behind the reason why they are out on the streets at night.
Yes, we have a longer path to travel in dealing with these complex issues of family dysfunction, gambling, alcoholism, violence and substance abuse. However, importantly, this government is having a go. No stone is being left unturned in creating collaborative partnerships between government agencies and NGOs, parents and workers in the community to effectively case manage these children and their families.
For some parents in my electorate, the heat has proven too much. Children have been sent interstate or elsewhere in the Territory by them to stay with relatives while the parent has tried to improve their act here to get the authorities off their back. To me, it is evidence that we are starting to make inroads into an area of neglect.
I have been touching on some of the actions in place by the government of which, as a local member, I am aware and which, at a local level, am able to assist in facilitating. This is in stark contrast to the arrogant and ignorant diatribe contained in the member for Araluen’s speech on this statement. I should not be surprised at the shallowness of the opposition and the bitter and twisted view they bring to issues. The shocking neglect of the CLP reign that I believe is complicit in the harm so many Territory children have endured is to their eternal shame, not a shame that we are prepared to share. We will not stand idly by while children suffer.
Why did the CLP leave the essential department of Family and Children’s Services languishing without any staff increases for a decade? The member for Araluen had to quote one staff recruitment from 20 years ago in the Paul Everingham era. That is an absolute disgrace. In stark contrast, the Labor government has increased the Child Protection Services budget by 155%. I challenge to CLP to search for any period in its 27 years of government that it has increased child protection by 155%. This increase shows that we are up from $7.8m in 2001-02 to more than $20m in 2004-05.
In December last year, we announced an unprecedented injection of $53m over the next five years. This equates to at least a 10% increase in program funding for those five years. Importantly, this funding increase has enabled the employment of 32 new operational staff since January this year, with four locals employed with interstate child protection experience. It includes two cadetships and two Aboriginal traineeships. Other important funding initiatives are an 8% increase to foster carers’ payments. This will improve our ability to recruit foster carers who play a critical role in providing care for children who are the victims of abuse or neglect. I welcome the minister’s statement, which details improved assessment of foster care placements.
In his ignorance, the dinosaur from Drysdale calls for us to actively recruit indigenous foster carers. We have been doing that for a couple of years now in collaboration with indigenous foster care organisations throughout the Territory. I am fully aware of the work and assistance we have given to KARU in the Top End to do just that. He showed his absolute ignorance of what is occurring in the sector. In addition, new funding has been provided to important NGOs including the Foster Carers Association, CREATE and NAPCAN; critical players in the protection of children.
I applaud the funding injection outlined in this statement for the raising of awareness in communities and to identify community-based responses and family support programs. Territory-wide child abuse and prevention awareness and education programs are fundamentally important, and I congratulate the minister and her department for their initiatives in this area. All of these funding initiatives are, again I say, in stark contrast to the starvation of funding and support for child protection, government workers and NGOs from the CLP over the past 20 years.
I thank Territorians who have worked tirelessly in the area of child protection. As the minister recognises, they perform an extraordinarily hard job in highly distressing circumstances that would test the mettle of anyone. I acknowledge the work done by FACS staff and NGOs to work through a mountain of need with too few resources. I thank the member for Nightcliff, who took up the mantle, while minister, to seek the resources and funding from this government that were needed to tackle an outrageous need.
The member for Arafura is bringing her own knowledge and insight to the portfolio and her statement is clear shouldering of the responsibility to do the hard work that remains ahead of us, to turn around the state of neglect so starkly identified in numerous independent studies and identified in her ministerial statement.
I thank our Cabinet and our minister for Justice who has introduced judicial reforms that are needed to work hand in hand with the sector’s raft of reforms to prevent and indeed punish instances of child abuse and neglect.
I commit to continuing to work with our ministers and my community to address the needs of children. We know children need love, encouragement, a safe home, access to education and health care among other needs. We know families need support to care for their children.
The simplistic views expressed by some members opposite shows their absolute ignorance of the difficulties of parenting. The member for Araluen’s hysterical and patronising diatribe shows how far out of touch she is from the reality of families. How many parents can truly say they have never felt despair and an inability to cope, those moments when they know they cannot go on without support?
This statement is not about blame. We are not about saying parents are wrong or evil and we will punish them. It is a statement that shows where the system needs reform, where our community needs to stand up and be counted, where children need greater care and assistance, where families need support, where we can, as a government, provide services in a far stronger and more collaborative framework of policies and provide the resources to deliver essential programs.
The statement spells out that we are committing the resources: funding, legislative reforms, extra operational staff and programs to support families, which, we believe, is the most appropriate and sensible way of supporting children. We are not pretending we can deliver all the assistance needed just through the government reforms and funding outlined in this statement. We are, clearly, willing to work with the community.
The Breathing Space program run through Darwin Family Day Care is an example of this government working with an NGO. It is appropriate for us to do so. Funding for Breathing Space, brokered through Darwin Family Day Care, provides necessary respite for families under strain. I know of families in Karama and Malak who are benefiting from this respite program, and I have seen it make the real difference between breaking down and coping. Breathing Space is fantastic, and I wholeheartedly support the minister’s work to ensure it is funded to meet this outstanding need.
Another terrific initiative launched by the minister is Parent Line, which is available for any family, any time, any day. It is a 24-hour phone line that has qualified counsellors to assist families with parenting needs. I have worked to distribute information about Parent Line through schools, my electorate newsletter and I have the terrific posters and brochures on display in my office. It is a wonderful service that provides access to the Positive Parenting Program for Territorians. I congratulate departmental staff for working hard to establish Parent Line in keeping with our government’s priorities and funding for the service.
I encourage members to make use of the Families web site. There are great ‘tip sheets’ that provide tips for parents, and this is just another innovative tool for supporting families.
I congratulate the minister for establishing a Family and Community Services Advisory Council and I congratulate Charlie King on his appointment as its chair. It is important for any government to establish pathways for independent advice. I have no doubt that the expertise on this advisory council will ensure that the minister continues to be well informed of issues and strategies and the resources required to protect children and to support Territory families.
Picking up on the ‘spin’ comments from the member for Drysdale, this government values our single parents, both men and women in our community who are working hard to raise their children on their own. We recognise that they are, in fact, families that have great needs. They need support such as respite, child care, parenting advice, which applies equally to single parents as it does to dual parent families. The dinosaur from Drysdale continues to spin his bitter bile while our government acts to support families, all families, regardless of race, religion or cultural difference.
This statement is a brave statement. It is not easy for a government to lay bare what affects the soul of a place like the Territory: the condition of our children and our families. It is very brave for a minister to open up and describe what we see as the picture of child protection in the Territory. She has shown us that it is not a pretty picture; she has shown us that she, as minister, is committed to the responsibilities she has to take the portfolio area forward, to drill through the reforms necessary in both the department and the sector as a whole, to make real changes to improving the lives of the Territory’s children and, indeed, the Territory’s families.
I congratulate the minister. It is a clarion call for all of us to accept the responsibilities we have as legislators and leaders in our community to ensure that we do whatever we can to support children and families.
In my community of Karama and Malak, I have been proud of the work being done at the local level. I congratulate people in the school communities, people working in Youth Beat, at the YWCA and Darwin Family Day care based at Malak. There really is a whole-of-community attempt to address what we see as an unacceptably high level of need for children. It is great to see that the funding is there to back up the community’s desire to do something about assisting our families, and particularly assisting children.
The children, I say, are the innocents. It is not their choice to live in squalor. It is not their choice to live in scenarios of neglect or abuse. It is simplistic for people to say: ‘That family is a problem, therefore evict them from that particular place of housing’, as I know members opposite would have us do. In all of those scenarios, I think of the children. Rather than having a simplistic eviction where you are turfing a family out of public housing because they do not have the coping ability to live properly and appropriately in the community, I look at what NGOs exist to work with families. That has been a useful and effective way of ensuring that children are not made homeless, while neighbours do not have to put up with distressing incidences of neglect of children.
We are not perfect. Some of us cope better than others. Some of us have the skills and ability to cope better than others. For some people, life throws issues that make them repeat behaviour that, as a society, we find abhorrent. How many studies show us that many of the perpetrators of child abuse are, in fact, the victims of child abuse?
This government is not shying away from the hard, ugly and nasty task of trying to turn the tide on the shocking statistics that are our Territory shame, that is, the state of neglect so ably spelt out in child neglect studies such as SNAICC.
I encourage the minister in her efforts. I encourage the government not to be lax, but to continue to improve and enhance programs that we have put in place, to search for new programs, to search for any innovative ways that we can, as a community, as a whole, tackle this enormous need. Each of us are mature enough to understand there will always be need. We are about addressing that need in a complex and innovative fashion so that we recognise one size does not fit all. Each community has its own differences. Each community has a different level of support and services. It is so good to see, in this statement, that we are reaching out to all parts of the Territory.
I know we have benefited from that in Karama; an identified area of need was addressed by the $140 000 injection of funding. Young mothers in the area will benefit from that. I commit to working with the Karama school community to ensure that that program is successful and well frequented. I congratulate the school for picking up the offer of that program. I look forward to hearing a report from the minister about our success in ensuring that we are strengthening Territory families and that children in need are starting to have those needs addressed.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I commend the statement and I commend the minister for her work.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I contribute to the Minister for Family and Children Services’ ministerial statement for a number of reasons. I go to a quote from her statement:
- The Northern Territory has the youngest population in Australia. Territorians under 18 make up 30 per cent of the population, a greater percentage than anywhere else in the country. Of the 57 000 plus kids in the Territory, more than 21 000 or 37 per cent are Aboriginal.
That is why I rise tonight: youth is vital to the future of the Territory and there are many issues, as we have already heard tonight, being discussed about the services delivered in the protection of young Territorians and in particular minimising neglect and child abuse.
We have the right person for the job, and the reason is that her work experience and reputation within the field of health probably makes her more qualified than any person who has ever held a health portfolio in the Northern Territory, and I do not think that is over-exaggerating her qualifications.
Often, we come into this House with professional backgrounds, some of us with degrees, and some of us with many years of work experience. It is not often that you have carriage of a portfolio in which you have a vast amount of knowledge and, specifically, a knowledge of what happens in both remote and urban areas. I quote again from the statement:
- In my work with various communities over the years, I have obtained increasingly profound insight into the challenges for Territory parents and families as they raise their children.
It is important that the minister has the background, knowledge and experience to contribute and formulate such a statement, and a plan of attack for how we are going to minimise neglect and abuse.
I often talk about minimisation in respect of many of these issues because the reality is that neglect and abuse of children has been around for thousands of years. It is something that the civilised world does not accept. No one in this House and no Territorian should accept the fact that children are, unfortunately, abused or neglected. I am interested in minimising the number of children who face such treatment. The minister, in the statement, recognised the reality that all families, irrespective of background, culture, religion, or race, face throughout the Northern Territory and Australia. She said:
- Their challenges include the erosion of cultural and moral values, geographical remoteness, failed past government policies, the struggle for economic independence and a lack of basic services.
This statement addresses the problems of remote areas. I argue that both urban and remote areas have, in the past, unfortunately, been under-funded. How do I conclude that? We have heard much rhetoric tonight about this not being the case, but when a government comes to power and increases the Child Protection Services budget by 155% - up from $7.8m in 2001-02 to over $20m in 2004-05 – that demonstrates commitment. That commitment is not rhetoric; it is real. It is about resourcing.
My belief is that, often, there is too much policy and academic reporting when, sometimes, you have to see people on the ground. I will touch on that. We heard the members for Araluen and Drysdale say that there is no substance in this statement. How can they lie straight in bed, after reading the statement and seeing that people are going to be employed in the sector and the qualifications of those people?
This statement not only addresses the need to properly resource this area and to employ people to deal with child abuse and neglect; it also gives statistics. It does not hide the facts. Any government could run away and hide from the fact that reporting of neglect and abuse has increased. The minister has clearly outlined the statistics so that everyone from industry professionals to lay people can understand: there is an increase and we do not shy away from it. In fact, we welcome that people are now reporting these matters. These are very serious matters, and I commend the minister for including that in the statement.
This statement goes onto the Parliamentary Record forever and a day. There is no shying away from the facts, which are that we have serious issues in relation to neglect and abuse in the Northern Territory.
The statement also gives detail of the process of how the minister, through her experience and her department working with people who are already employed and who will soon be employed and with stakeholders on how to come up with a process to minimise neglect and abuse in both remote and urban settings in the Northern Territory. That should be commended.
The minister related the reality that child abuse and neglect is a problem that is not unique to the Territory. It is a problem in all nations and most societies. This is sad, but it is a part of human relations.
The minister eloquently outlined that there are many causes, which include drug and alcohol abuse. We know that drugs and alcohol are having a detrimental effect on both remote and urban areas, on young children, on adults and on families. Drug and alcohol abuse needs a strategy. The police minister spoke tonight about the efforts the police are making in relation to domestic violence to minimise the effects on communities. The Kintore example was fantastic.
I have indigenous communities in my electorate and one of the main things going on there is the need to properly resource community leaders so they have an effect in enforcing by-laws, rules and regulations that they want on their community. We do not ask the aldermen of the Darwin City Council to enforce by-laws of the Darwin City Council. They use structures that everyone in mainstream society uses, and they include police. Whether you are in an urban or remote area, you should be able to call on the police to perform their duty. That is the right of every person in the Territory as Australian citizens.
Mental illness is a major problem, as is homelessness. The Minister for Local Government talked about the homelessness, the $850m needed to fix public housing in the Northern Territory and the reality that we only have $2.7bn in the budget. One-third of our budget is required to fix housing. This is on top of dealing with health, child abuse and neglect, policing, education, all the issues that are the responsibility of government.
I pick up on the bipartisan support that we will need to deal with this issue: there is juvenile crime, neglect and substance abuse. In Millner, juvenile crime is an issue, unfortunately. People are struggling with the fact that kids have been neglected, whether it is low attendance at school, food or housing. There is a link and we need to deal with that link.
Adult criminal behaviour and incarceration are related to child abuse and neglect from young children to young adults:
- Some estimates indicate that as many as 97% of prisoners have experienced abuse or neglect. An American study in 2000 reported that the US spends $94bn annually on the direct and indirect costs of child abuse and neglect.
Again, I look at the investment that the NT government has made into child protection as one that will have a return. The return will be creating better families, having an effect on criminal behaviour, having an effect on mental illness, homelessness, juvenile crime and reducing the impact of drug and alcohol abuse. That is why we are investing.
I do not have a professional background in health. As a lay person, there were a number of key messages from the statement, the first being that child protection has been an issue of concern for many years. This cannot be denied. The members for Araluen and Drysdale were very annoyed, and I suppose it hit a nerve with them, a soft under-belly, but the minister argued that this is because of past governments’ under-resourcing the sector.
Another key message was that this is an issue of importance for all Territorians, and a bipartisan approach to this matter will help solve many of these problems because the reality is that, yes, we have increased the budget by 155%, $20m is a great start, but will it be enough?
We are going to have to go to the Commonwealth and if we do this as a parliament, all 25 members, and say: ‘What is happening in urban and remote areas of the Northern Territory is a national disgrace and we need to be properly resourced and funded to deal with these matters’. I return to the reality that the NT government plays an important role in delivery of services, but it is not capable of dealing with all the major issues that come before it. We need to draw on the support of the Commonwealth. If we do this as a parliament, we will have a greater impact on resourcing the Territory.
The minister recognised that there have been a number of reports. Child abuse has been the subject of studies over many years. In particular, SNAICC, Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, which released an extensive report on neglect and abuse of indigenous children in the Northern Territory two years ago.
The minister also mentioned that the Bansemer Review picked up many things in the Department of Health and Community Services, and the independent review included looking at the area of Family and Community Services. The minister mentioned that those recommendations have been incorporated into Building Healthier Communities and are, right now, being implemented. This is recognition of the need for independent voices and the positive contribution they can make, even though the information they provide on the status of child abuse and neglect is very sad. It is important that government’s performance is monitored by independent review and advice.
The minister insists on continuing to receive independent, informed advice. The minister has appointed a Family and Community Services Advisory Council and was pleased to announce the appointment of Charlie King as the chair of that council. All members would no doubt welcome that appointment. Charlie King is a former Territorian of the Year and is well respected by all members. I hope that he continues to be vocal and works hard to support the government in finding better ways to minimise neglect and child abuse in the Northern Territory.
We heard from the opposition, sadly, particularly the members for Araluen and Drysdale, that there is nothing of substance in this statement. The initiatives of the Martin Labor government include to $53m extra over the next five years, 19 new qualified staff employed since January 2004, 10 new positions in 2004-05, a review and complete overhaul of the Community Welfare Act, and establishing an independent Family and Community Services Advisory Council.
From these independent reports, the message is that we need to act now. We cannot wait for another review. We have to implement strategies and processes that attack and deal with problems of neglect and abuse of children.
As a result of the work the minister has been doing, the constant talk, the media coverage, the work that members who hold bush seats have been doing in their electorates, as have members holding urban seats, there has been a significant increase in notification of child abuse, particularly indigenous child abuse, which has increased by 43% in the last year, up from 855 to 1226, an increase of 371. The increase of non-indigenous notification was less than 4%, up from 699 to 723, which is an increase of 24 in individual complaints.
This highlights the fact that, for a number of reasons, indigenous people have not been willing or able to participate in the notification process. I know a couple of staff who have been visiting remote areas, and the higher level of awareness in both urban and remote areas has resulted in people feeling more comfortable in reporting the fact that there is ‘no-good business’ going on, either child abuse or neglect of children.
This reporting or notification should be encouraged because we need to know what the statistics are and the statistics that we gather from these notifications and their outcomes will help the minister, in the first instance, argue in Cabinet for further increases in child abuse and neglect funding. Hopefully, the statistics will then be used to argue with the Commonwealth that we need further increases for resources in this area.
The additional funding has done a number of specific things in addressing staff shortages. We often have comments that ministerial statements play politics without provide facts and figures. I am happy to say that there are facts and figures in the statement: 32 new operational staff appointments since January 2004; four locums have been employed with interstate child protection experience; two cadetships and two Aboriginal traineeships have been created.
The funding increase also covers an 8% increase in the foster carers’ payment. A number of foster carers have been donating their time and their resources for many years, and they need our assistance to continue the good work that they do. An 8% increase might seem a large amount, but I would more than lend my support to the minister to secure further increases, although 8% is a good start.
The new package will increase funding to NGOs, including the Foster Carers Association, CREATE and NAPCAN; allow work with Aboriginal communities to raise awareness of child protection and develop community-based sponsors and family support programs; and provide Territory-wide child abuse and prevention awareness and education programs. It is vital that in both remote and urban areas, we strategically target awareness programs that will prevent child abuse and neglect, and they have to be specific to their audience.
I have spoken about this in the past: one of the most effective marketing schemes is that of the NBA, which sells basketball jumpers not only to the Chinese, but to South Americans, Africans, Europeans and to the Middle East. They have been able to sell a uniform with Shaquille O’Neal or whoever is on that uniform, to people in remote areas. You can go to these remote areas and young people are wearing these items of clothing. We need to learn how to use this type of marketing and awareness in our educational programs to increase the awareness of child abuse and neglect in remote and urban areas.
I cannot let the comments of the member for Araluen go unchallenged. She was very disappointing and critical. She offered no solution to the fact that there was a lack of analysis. It was negative, whingeing and, as I said, offered no solutions. Really, it was a ridiculous contribution.
It was great that mandatory reporting legislation was passed, but, like the example we have been using with the under-funding of police, at the end of the day, you must have police officers on the beat to catch criminals. Similarly, we have to have child care protection workers in remote and urban areas minimising child abuse and the neglect of children. This is what this massive increase of funding, 155% will do - which is probably the largest increase in any department since we have been in government. It is a wonderful achievement of this government …
Mr McADAM: Madam Speaker, I move an extension of time for the member for Millner.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: Two minutes.
Mr BONSON: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Why has there been an increase in staffing? The contributions from the members for Araluen and Drysdale about living conditions in remote areas were shameful. There are many reasons why living conditions are not acceptable in a first-world country. The majority of those reasons have nothing to do with individuals, but that is the misunderstanding of these members, unfortunately. The reason we have been successful in securing resources is members who have remote areas in their electorates, including the minister, have been pushing the resources issue.
We often talk about the Berrimah line. We have four members of Cabinet who represent remote areas outside of Darwin. It has never been done in the history of Cabinet in the Northern Territory, and that cannot be understated.
The member for Araluen talked about having files and files on issues of criminology, offending, child abuse and protection. I also know of these issues in relation to Australia and New Zealand, the USA and Canada. Her argument that, somehow, increasing penalties are going to be detrimental to the war on child abuse and neglect, is amazing and sad. You cannot even describe it as being laughable. To say that you cannot sentence a mongrel who wants to sexually abuse a child to longer sentences because of some criminological argument that this will lead them to committing further or more serious crimes does not stand any test of decency.
As the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services said, take that out to the northern suburbs or these remote areas where there is child abuse, and argue that sexual offenders should be given a less severe sentence. You will not last very long. He challenged the member to include it in her electorate newsletter and see what type of response she has.
The sad thing is that academic research shows that in Canada, the USA, the UK, Europe and Australia, child sex offenders are, 99% of the time, repeat offenders. That is a sad reality, but that is the way it is. We need to get to tough on sexual offenders. Locking them up will minimise their effect on the wider community.
I pick up on the Minister for Justice’s efforts in Corrections with proper resourcing. We need to properly resource Corrections because we have to try to educate the sexual offenders to minimise the damage they cause in the wider community.
Our approach to this should be united and bipartisan. We should go to the Commonwealth and ask for more resources, outline that there are conditions in the Northern Territory that should not be acceptable to Australian citizens. It has nothing to do with race. Forget the race issue; that is not what it is about. It is about Australian citizens who, unfortunately, for many years for a lot of different reasons, being under-resourced and not properly looked after. If we approached the Commonwealth as a parliament, we would have success on the national stage to achieve dealing with solutions and processes that will properly fund communities, families and government to deal with this national disgrace.
Before I wind up, the member for Drysdale made comments in relation to the Stolen Generation. This is the ignorance of the individual. The Stolen Generation was an issue of children being removed because of race. What we are talking about is children being removed from their families because of neglect and abuse. To this day, this individual cannot understand what the Stolen Generation issue was about. People were not being removed because they were suffering neglect or abuse but because of their race, and until this individual can understand that, he will never be able to progress on these matters.
Madam Speaker, in summary, you have small victories in government. This is one of the small victories, although it is a double-edged sword: it is sad that we need to fight for extra resources because we have this issue of child abuse and neglect. What makes me proud is that we said we will take this on; we are going to try to do something about this. If we can make one person’s life better as a result of this minister’s contribution and ministers before her, then we have done a fantastic job as a government, and we are representing the community as best we can in both remote and urban areas. I look forward to working with this group for many more years.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, first, I congratulate the minister on her statement. This must be one of the most important statements made in this House because it deals with the future, welfare and protection of our kids. If we can do something to bring about change in this area, it will probably be more important than many of the other issues that we deal with in this parliament. I am not an expert on many of the matters raised in the statement, but I would like to say a few words on issues that have been brought to my attention.
The member for Millner spoke about the $20m increase in funding for Child Protection Services, and a $53m increase in funding over the next three years, and I note that in light of the increased workload on staff. Naturally, if there is an increase in reporting and those matters are investigated by staff, there must be more staff to cope with the increased workload.
Then there has to be adequate office space in which the staff can work so that matters that are very sensitive can be dealt with in an appropriate manner. If staff are not happy about their work place, one cannot expect good outcomes in a job for which good outcomes are surely the goal. If staff are stressed, that will rub off on the people they deal with and that is not a good outcome. I make those observations, as I said, in light of the fact that there is $20m extra in the budget. I have to ask: if that is the case, why haven’t some of these issues been overcome?
The minister knows I have mentioned the issue of a poor working environment at Palmerston. I am interested to know whether any of that $20m is being invested into making the workplace a much better workplace for those people who have a very difficult job. I saw the minister on the news tonight saying how difficult it is to attract people into this field of work. If the work environment is not good, it will be harder to attract people.
Minister, I note that you have spoken from a government perspective, but I would be interested to hear more about your government’s relationship with non-government organisations working in similar fields. Many of the issues on which you touched relate to families and children, and there are other organisations that have expertise in the same area. My understanding is that there are people at Anglicare, CentreCare, Somerville and Amity all have a role to play in dealing with child abuse issues. It is important to see how they interact with government agencies.
You also touched on an issue of which I have recently become aware, and that relates to the retention of files when a person or persons have been cleared of a matter that has arisen from a notification. On my reading of your statement, it appears that 25% of notifications are substantiated, meaning that 75% are not. Whilst I am not saying that all cases of possible child abuse should not be reported, I wonder whether cases of notification that are not proved should remain on file. I realise that this is a difficult issue, but I can understand that people who have done nothing wrong may feel that they still have blot on their record.
The issue of neglect is another important issue. The minister mentioned gambling and its effects: children going hungry not only because there is no money, but they are not being cared for whilst a parent or parents gamble. It is not only cards; look at the number of people playing the pokies in the middle of the day. Sadly, many of those people are indigenous. What about the parents down at the club leaving no one to look after their children? What should happen when kids turn up for school hungry and tired because no one is home, there is no food in the house and they have been watching videos all night?
Then there is petrol sniffing. What do we do with young people affected by alcohol? Do they fit into neglect or child abuse? Should they be taken away from their family, who may have given up on them? Do we live within the shadow of the Stolen Generation, or do we do what may be best for a child? Who would look after them?
I ask those questions with caution because I recall a meeting of the Substance Abuse committee in Alice Springs last year. The minister chaired that meeting, and I recall some of the comments when we spoke about the possibility of removing people from communities who were continually affected by alcohol. There were reactions, one of which was that it was another Stolen Generation. It is a sensitive issue, but we have to put it squarely on the table and say that we have to do what is best for the child and not be concerned by criticisms that, in some cases, are political and in some cases are well meaning.
The minister said that we can help reduce child abuse and neglect by building economically and socially sustainable communities. That is a huge question to which I would have added ‘culturally and spiritually strong communities’. It is important to have employment and recreation, but if that means a society in which pleasure and consumerism are the only goals to make a strong community, nothing much will change. Respect for one another does not fall out of a tree; it has to be taught. If there is no belief in the importance of respect for others and that ‘I’ is the centre of everything, nothing will change. Discipline, especially self-discipline, is something that society seems to regard as outdated. The approach seems to be to find a solution after it has happened rather than gaining control earlier. If we get fat and our heart suffers; we should not have eaten so much in the first place. If we belt up someone and we go to gaol, we should have controlled our temper.
It is respect for ourselves and others that needs to be reinforced. If children are abused, will they not also abuse? It is that cycle, that sad, ongoing trail of abuse that needs to be broken. Respect for others, whether based on a humanist or religious premise, must be reinforced from an early age. We all have a role to play, not just the government.
Madam Speaker, the statement is a good one. It will raise an issue that has been taboo in the public arena for many years, but now we need to make it a shame job, and one that is punishable under the law. It is not only unfashionable, it is simply wrong. I welcome the minister raising this important matter today. Only time will tell if the statement is words or action because it contains a lot of words. They are good words, but we are dealing with an issue that is extremely important for the future of our Territory. If you look at the number of people that are listed as being subject to abuse, it is a fairly large percentage of our population, and if we do not do something to stop that, it will only continue. As I said, the cycle will continue.
It is a big job, and one that all parliamentarians should support so that a clear message is sent to our children and young people: they should not be subjected to any form of abuse.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Family and Community Services): Madam Speaker, I thank members for their contributions to the statement. A ministerial statement on the protection of Territory children will provoke many emotions. From my own point of view, it is an emotive area. Every time I am in my electorate, and it would be the same for all electorates, issues of child abuse or issues affecting our children confront every single one of us. I do not think that any of us are not confronted with it, and it is not just in the indigenous field. I did say that this is an issue for non-indigenous children, too. We all have responsibility in this area.
I thank the member for Port Darwin for her support as shadow minister, but also for her contribution to the statement because we have travelled around and had a bit of time to see some of these communities. I got to see a different person in the member for Port Darwin.
She mentioned how society changes and attitudes change. I agree. One of the points my statement makes is that attitudes need to change. That is something that is going to take time. The statement was not saying that there is going to be any sort of quick fix overnight, and that we are going to wave a magic wand and things are going to stop. It is long-term stuff. When we talk about attitudes, we are talking long-term. We have seen it in the health sector, and you have worked in the health sector, you certainly know that one the most difficult things to change is people’s attitudes.
She talked about parents being role models, and there is no doubt, responsible parenting is so important in protecting our children. As I said, as a parent of three, I know it takes a lot of responsibility, but it is also a privilege so it is important in terms of protecting children. She also talked about the role that teachers and nurses play in child protection, and they are worthy comments. Teachers and nurses spend a lot of time with children, and their role in protecting children and raising notifications of abuse is a critical aspect of our vigilance.
There is another group of workers that also play a key role, particularly when we look out in our remote Aboriginal communities, and that is the role of Aboriginal health workers. I have spoken about that a number of times, and it is not belittling the role of nurses or anyone else who has a role in those multi-disciplinary teams, but sometimes when we look at the cultural brokers at the coal face of communities, the pressure that is put on Aboriginal health workers is something that we should not forget. They too need to be supported through this process.
The member for Port Darwin raised the issue of the Northern Territory News article from about six months ago, and who could forget that article, with the children on the front page taking or faking having a bong? Without going into it too much for the sake of the family’s privacy, I can tell you honestly that they are doing very well. The children have been tested and there is no evidence of drug taking since we took action at that time.
The member for Araluen said we do not take bold actions. Let me tell you, when that child was on the front page of the Northern Territory News, the children were submitted to mandatory drug testing. If that is not bold, what is? Sure, we have not locked them up, which is probably what she wants. Anglicare is continuing to work with the family and it is an example of support being provided to a family in need. It is working and that is very heartening.
What goes to the basis of this statement is that we can implement many measures, but one of the key things is families and communities. We need to work with those families and build our communities. That was the core focus of the Building Healthier Communities document.
Research for the SNAICC Report was conducted during the end of the CLP’s reign and at the beginning of the Martin Labor government’s term. All the statistics were from that 10-year period and before any changes were made. The SNAICC Report recommendations continue to form a basis for many of our programs and services. I have read the report and it is a great document. Those of us who are committed to this process use that and other reports to determine how we can move forward and some of the systems that we can put in place.
One of the things that we cannot be fooled about, and it was certainly something that was highlighted in my statement, is that it is important for government not to think that it has all the answers. As minister, I do not. I am humble enough to say that I do not have all the answers, and I do not pretend to think that I have all the answers. Many solutions must come from the community, but it is up to us, as government and as the department, to work with communities, individuals and families, so that we can get those solutions happening on the ground.
I support most comments made by the member for Port Darwin, that this is just not an Aboriginal problem. I agree totally, and that is something that sometimes we can forget. We can think that because notifications are at an all-time high, we just focus on the indigenous problem. The same applies to alcohol and substance abuse. Many people think that alcoholism or substance abuse is just a black problem. I can tell you it is not an issue just for Aboriginal people. Alcoholism and the scourge of substance abuse is something that is just as great and increasing in the non-indigenous communities. We are not ignoring the problem and are not saying that a non-indigenous child is not as important as an indigenous child. Every kid, irrespective of their ethnic origin, is important. We all realise and value that.
The member for Port Darwin mentioned staffing. I talked about 32 new field positions this year. All of these 32 are operational staff working with children and families. They are out in the field protecting and supporting children. Considering the shortage across Australia, this is a great achievement. We only have to pick up national papers to see the crises in other states and the ACT where departments and governments are constantly finding that this is a real issue for them. It is not just here. That is why I said it is not unique to the Northern Territory, but exists across Australia. I commend my department for this recruitment, and welcome these 32 new people to our team.
The member also asked about vacancies. The advice I have received is that of the 111 positions in child protection, we have about 18 vacancies at the moment, or 16%. A further seven are about to be offered positions.
I can let the member for Port Darwin know about some of the initiatives we are undertaking to assist staff at Casuarina Plaza, and in answer to the member for Nelson’s question about office accommodation: at Casuarina Plaza, we are acquiring additional floor space to help alleviate current workplace-based problems and provide better facilities for working with clients. That was one of the key issues when FACS staff were interviewing clients, the issue of privacy and ensuring that all matters remained confidential.
At Palmerston, at the TIO Building, it is proposed to remodel the ground floor to provide a more workable arrangement by ensuring staff working areas are located at the rear of the facility and that the client interview areas will be at the front. I do not know whether the member for Nelson has been into the office space in Palmerston, but that will be an improvement.
Relocation of the Adoption Placement Support Unit to Casuarina will free up space to enable the reconfiguration and better utilisation of the overall space. We are approaching the building owners to relocate the private solicitor’s office that is there so that we can utilise this space as well. This will enable improved security and functional operations.
We are also addressing office space issues in Alice Springs and around the Territory. We all recognise if we have increased notifications, it is increasing workloads and placing more pressure on staff. We need to look at that right across the department with restructuring. The best way to address workloads, as I said in the statement, is to increase staffing levels. We are doing that. The 32 new staff is an indication that we have more staff into the system and recruitment is ongoing. We cannot be fooled by saying that 32 are enough and we can sit back; that recruitment is ongoing.
The department is also looking at its case management system, and I talked about that in the statement. I have asked them to conduct an audit on case loads to determine how the burden can be better managed. I am confident that these issues will be resolved soon.
In relation to substantiations, I can advise the member for Port Darwin that in 2002-03 the substantiation rate for indigenous kids was around 8.7%. This compares 1.6% for non-indigenous kids. We are intervening and protecting children more than ever.
The member for Port Darwin talked about cannabis and other substance abuse being a contributor to child abuse. I could not agree more. I have talked about cannabis and other substance abuse many times. Being the Chair of the parliamentary committee, we travelled around and saw this issue first-hand. The incidence is increasing in communities. I went through this when my own son, much to my disappointment, hurt and betrayal, had conducted the same activity in one of those communities. I came out publicly and apologised to those communities because I see this scourge all the time at the coal face of those communities. As I said to my son, people like him walk away and they do not see the impact of what this does on the ground in those communities. So you are right, and I agree with you. I mentioned that in my statement.
One of our key areas in the Building Healthier Communities document is about tackling substance abuse and this has been a dilemma for all governments. We are not saying that we have all the answers to this, but our policy direction in this matter means that for the first time, we can really move on this. Tackling substance abuse is probably one of the key areas because unless we are brave enough to do that, we are going to continue to see things getting worse in a number of communities.
I compliment the member for Port Darwin on her commitment. I know that time and time again, she reiterates her commitment to the Health and Community Services portfolio. I am grateful that she is the shadow minister rather than some of her colleagues. I am sure the children of the Territory and others are very grateful for that. I commend the member for Port Darwin for her comments.
My colleague the member for Stuart, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, talked at length about the coordinated packages and strategies that tackle risks to children and support our families and communities. The law must reflect the seriousness with which we view crimes against children. I welcome our tough new penalties for child sexual abuse. I welcome, too, future amendments to close down the use, production and distribution of child pornography and other materials that harm our children and our community.
By tackling ill-health and promoting social wellbeing, we are giving children a good start in life. By using a community development approach, listening to local needs and focussing on maternal health, early detection and early intervention, this government is giving kids a better and healthier future.
The member for Araluen spent half of her time simply summarising the statement, pointing out all of our achievements, so there is not a lot to which I can respond. She said that it was light on for achievement and she conveniently skipped over the fact that we have tripled funding. She dismissed our $20m a year and suggested that the CLP’s $7m a year was somehow a greater commitment. She clearly believes that funding is irrelevant. Thirty new staff, she stated, is not an achievement. She clearly feels that resources on the ground are not important.
The member for Araluen claimed to care about child protection, yet she chose to stand for election for a party that would not put sufficient resources against it. You only have to look at the petrol sniffing legislation she sponsored, which sends kids to gaol for two years, to understand her commitment to children.
She claimed the statement was simply spin. I found that quite insulting because I worked on that statement quite late into the night over a couple of days, and I could not help but think of some of the horrific cases of child abuse that I have witnessed in my years in the health sector. I was thinking of all these kids as I wrote, and she called it spin. I cannot help that. She finished with a bizarre claim that we should not send child offenders to gaol because they will only hurt children more.
The member for Wanguri talked about the holistic approach and, as Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services, he talked about police involvement. I commend him and the police on their approach to this. I am advised that a significant portion of notifications come from the police. They are at the front line and we simply could not protect our children without them. The $75m that has been injected into police will help protect our children.
I was surprised by the member for Drysdale’s contribution because it was constructive. It was very brave of him to talk on this topic; you only have to look at the totally inadequate funding he gave this area as minister to understand how much he cared about it. He constantly ripped funding out of child protection to try to plug other holes. We have acted to prevent that ever happening again. Child protection money is now quarantined.
In trying to defend himself, the member for Drysdale tried his tired old line that to criticise his performance as minister was to criticise the child protection workers. It was not the child protection workers who grossly underfunded child protection; it was him, and everyone knows it. In Estimates, and again today, we saw the member for Drysdale outline the lack of confidence he has in the public servants who make up the Department of Health and Community Services. It is worth noting that in all his time as Minister for Family and Community Services, he never once made a statement on child protection. He said our statistics were useless, but spent the rest of his response quoting half of them to try to make a point.
I covered in my speech, and was prepared to be attacked about, the increase in notifications and, sure enough, he took it up. I remain absolutely convinced that the increase in notifications means that more kids at risk are being protected than before, and I am proud of it.
In this year’s Estimates hearings, we heard the member for Drysdale suggest that our school breakfast programs condone child neglect. His bizarre claims were a little hard to fathom, but it seems he was suggesting that under the terms of mandatory reporting of child abuse, all teachers should have to make child abuse notifications whenever a child turned up to school willing to eat breakfast. We do not agree. We will not cancel the program. Fortunately, the Fred Hollows Foundation does not agree with the member for Drysdale, either, and they run a complementary program in the NT. What is also fortunate is that the shadow minister, the member for Port Darwin, does not agree with him, either, and has supported the program.
He finished by suggesting that the Stolen Generation was simply the government protecting children. I am not going to respond, but I will respond to something else he mentioned, and that was the CLP’s initiative of mandatory reporting. The CLP should be congratulated for that because we are the only jurisdiction that has mandatory reporting.
My statement has already been endorsed by some stakeholders and I thank them for their support. The Australian Childhood Foundation has released a statement today titled The Northern Territory Applauded on Positive Steps to Tackle Child Abuse. The CEO, Joe Tucci, said:
- Too often, child abuse is low on a list of priorities for community and government action. The Northern Territory Community Welfare Act has been in need of an overhaul for some time.
The opportunity to review and modernise, it is essential.
I welcome these comments. As I said before, it is important for government not to think it has all the answers. We did not set out to think that we had all the answers. we proposed our policy, what the department is doing, proposed a way forward and how we are going to work.
The member for Nelson said I did not mention the great work that the non-government sector does. I did talk about non-government organisations. They play a key role. As well as individuals, people, communities, government needs the non-government sector to be a key partner in dealing with this issue.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Madam Speaker, at Sydney’s Film Festival last month, the award for the most outstanding film was won by Dhakiyarr v The King. The film was set around the Wukidi ceremony held in Darwin last year, coordinated by Buku-Larrnggay on behalf of Yolgnu leaders, in particular Dhukal and Manman Wirrpanda. The 2004 Rouben Mamoulian Award, presented by Showtime, was selected from all 13 finalists by an esteemed panel of festival guests. I congratulate Dhukal, Manman and especially Will Stubbs at Buku-Larrnggay for his total commitment, enthusiasm, support and sensitivity for Yolgnu people.
The Northern Territory government appointed Ms Suzanne Sandral as General Manager/Nursing Director at Gove District Hospital. I warmly welcome her appointment. Ms Sandral is a registered nurse and midwife and has a Bachelor of Health Science. She recently returned after two years in India and two years in Vietnam where she assisted in establishing two hospitals. We look forward to her contribution and professionalism to health in our region.
Over 400 people were in the town centre to acknowledge Young Territorian - Nhulunbuy region, Daniel Coxon, and Territorian of the Year - Nhulunbuy region, John Price. Both recipients have been great contributors to the Nhulunbuy community for many years. John Price has given much of his time over the past 33 years to the community through his involvement in many sporting organisations, and Nhulunbuy Scouts, and is a Social Life Member of NORFORCE. John has also received Rotary’s highest honour, the Paul Harris Fellowship, in 1998, in recognition of his commitment and service to scouting and the wider Nhulunbuy community.
Daniel Coxon became involved in motocross and BMX from an early age in Nhulunbuy, and at the age of 16 became involved with the local radio station 8EAR, initially as an announcer, then producing the evening show. At 17, he became the Technical Manager, a position he still holds, along with responsibility for preparing outside broadcasts. Daniel was elected president of 8EAR in 2003 and is totally committed to the station in every aspect, including training volunteers, researching and testing computerised play-out systems and loading data to make the announcer’s tasks easier. Daniel serves the community with selflessness, cheerfulness and enthusiasm. He is an ideal role model for other younger people.
My congratulations to Dr Alan Clough, who has recently completed the requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy with his thesis titled ‘Health Effects of Excessive Kava Consumption’. His research was carried out through the Top End, and more specifically with kava in eastern Arnhem Land. The results of his research have helped to quell the black market trade in kava, and modify the health and social effects of an unregulated supply of kava in the region.
Garma 2004 was again a huge success, with the theme Indigenous Livelihoods being a key issue for Yolgnu people in East Arnhem Land. Garma is one of the most important indigenous festivals in Australia, attracting a wide range of people from around the country. It is a great opportunity to raise awareness, share ideas, knowledge and culture. I commend the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Mandaway and Galarrwuy for another well organised, informative festival promoting reconciliation, understanding and partnerships.
The National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Art Award has been won by Gulumbu Yunupingu of North East Arnhem Land, residing at both Yirrkala and Gunyungarra. The winning entry was a set of three Larrakitj or memorial poles entitled Garak, the Universe, inspired by the songs her father shared with her as a child. They reflect on the infinite depth of the universe beyond our eyes, something we see with familiarity but cannot comprehend. Gulumbu stated that we are all united, one people under the stars, and her story comes from the heart, showing the world that this is what she desires. Gulumbu is the elder sister of both Galarrwuy and Mandawuy, and her late husband won the same award in 1990 for his bark painting. Sincere congratulations to Gulumbu, who is a well respected and loved community member.
Sharon Weymouth, a highly respected member of the team at the Yirrkala Health Centre, was declared the Territory Nurse of the Year and Remote Nurse of the Year at a gala ceremony held on 23 August. Sharon is a highly motivated and clinically excellent nurse and midwife, and Yirrkala is very fortunate to have her working at their local health centre.
On 9 and 10 August, the Northern Territory government held Community Cabinet in Yirrkala and Nhulunbuy, the 27th Community Cabinet since Labor came to government. Community Cabinet is an important tool in this government’s quest to bring people and government closer together to ensure that Cabinet hears directly the concerns of communities. It also gave me the opportunity to discuss local Nhulunbuy issues with Cabinet colleagues and CEOs on the ground rather than the Cabinet room in Darwin. I will provide the House with a quick summary of the main activities undertaken.
A successful Cabinet meeting was held with Yirrkala Dhanbul and Laynhapuy Homelands Association where issues including educational needs, school attendance and self-determination were raised by a good cross-section of senior leaders of the communities. The Chief Minister and the Minister Assisting her on Women’s Policy, Marion Scrymgour, attended a women’s forum in Nhulunbuy organised by the Office of Women’s Policy. Excellent feedback was received from the forum, with more than 80 women participating including a group of Yirrkala women who returned from the Garma Festival especially to attend.
The Chief Minister and I conducted a Business Round Table, another new community consultative process set in place by this government. Discussions were dominated by issues such as availability of land for housing, and opportunities for local business arising from the projected Alcan expansion.
Minister Ah Kit and I met with the East Arnhem Regional Development Board and discussed a range of issues including indigenous employment opportunities linked to community housing construction, and a proposal for a regional youth academy. We also met with the Nhulunbuy Corporation, with general discussion on the corporation’s activity and, in particular, the implications of the proposed Alcan expansion.
It gave me a lot of pleasure to accompany Minister Ah Kit to the Gove Country Golf Club, where he announced the Territory government would provide a $150 000 toward construction of a new club house. The new club house will incorporate a bistro bar area, conference facilities, children’s play area, shaded entertainment area and will be a great sporting and social asset for the community. The current club house is a 30-year-old demountable that does not conform to cyclone standard and cannot be repaired. The new facility is well overdue. The Territory government is proud to support this $750 000 initiative in conjunction with the Gove Golf Club, which has already raised $220 000 for the project. Alcan is also contributing $150 000.
The Minister for Health, Dr Toyne, launched the East Regional Health Plan at Gove Hospital. The plan includes priority areas for action to improve the retention and recruitment of Health and Community Services staff, strengthen the relationship between health providers and schools to deliver services, to improve collaboration and communication links, to address service gaps with an emphasis on care closer to home, and to improve information management systems.
As part of the Building Healthier Communities framework, the East Arnhem Regional Plan is another exciting step in meeting our commitment to ensure all Territorians enjoy long and healthy lives, and that we have Health and Community Services that are responsive, accountable and effective.
Minister Henderson visited Nhulunbuy Police Station where Acting Senior Sergeant Charles Rue showed him around. The Nhulunbuy Police District covers the East Arnhem area, which is a large region. They have been very proactive and reduced the amount of kava being brought into the area, in targeting illegal fishing and in conducting monthly patrols to Galiwinku and Gapuwiyak. There are 86 outstation communities throughout the district. Minister Henderson met one of the new recruits on just her second day on the job at Nhulunbuy, as well as four ACPOs, 11 constables and one school-based constable who are all doing a great job. He visited the fire station, meeting with Acting Station Commander Gary Osbourne. The station is staffed by two fire members, eight auxiliaries and three volunteers.
Minister Henderson also visited businesses throughout the area and announced a new government position in Nhulunbuy to help grow jobs for indigenous people in the region today. The new Senior Indigenous Business Development Officer will be responsible for working closely with indigenous people to develop and grow business and skills capabilities and to see as many local people as possible benefit from the economic opportunities in Nhulunbuy and East Arnhem region. The officer is due to start work by the end of the month.
Minister Vatskalis met with the multicultural community and undertook an Alcan mine and refinery tour. He presented the Nhulunbuy Regional Sports Fishing Club with a Small Clubs grant of $1286 for the purchase of a new satellite phone to be used by club members and the wider community.
He also met with the Dhimurru Rangers on marine debris and the impact on turtles, the Dhimurru Rangers explaining that much of that debris originates from overseas. The minister informed the rangers that he has raised the issue with the Commonwealth government and asked them to discuss the matter with our international neighbours about foreign netting debris.
Minister Burns spent time at sea with a site visit to Arafura Pearls, the farm at Elizabeth Bay, and an inspection of an airstrip construction project at Wigram Island. He followed this up with the tour of Alcan and discussions on the proposed expansion. He also had discussions regarding the future of the public wharf facility at Nhulunbuy.
A well-attended evening social function was held at Walkabout Hotel. All ministers got to mix informally with about 80 community members from Nhulunbuy and Yirrkala. I put on record my thanks to Alcan for all their assistance with the Community Cabinet. They do an excellent job in ensuring transport, accommodation, meeting venues, catering and so on goes according to plan. They do a great job of it, and, on behalf of Cabinet, I express my thanks and appreciation for their assistance.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, first I refer to the member for Nhulunbuy’s adjournment in which he continued to refer to members of Cabinet by name. We know full well standing orders require that members are to be referred to by their electorates. I am certain that the speech writers who produce speeches for the various ministers during adjournment know full well what the standing orders say. It must, in my opinion, be a deliberate action on their part to use members’ names in these speeches.
If the ministers cannot control their staffers, then it is up to Madam Speaker to instruct everyone accordingly. Otherwise you have a group of people who are prepared to abide by the rules and another group who flaunt the rules over and over again. This is a parliament and if you are not going to follow the rules, then let us throw it all out and let us have open slather on everything. I have said this many a time in the last 10 years. I keep reminding people to do it, but they do not. I suggest, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, that you need to pull up members if they continue to do that.
This morning I asked the minister about what he intended to do about the overflow of sewage from the Alice Springs sewage ponds into St Mary’s Creek, thereby causing a huge pooling of fermenting, foul odour, smelly, stagnant water at the northern edge of the Old Timers Home. I am sure residents of the Old Timers Home do not want to have their environment forever foul smelling. I rode past St Mary’s Creek two weekends ago to check out the nature of the ponding of water there and it is awful. The water has spread nearly up to the left-hand verge of the Stuart Highway. There has been some attempt by government to dump dirt along the road verge to absorb the water that continues to ooze out. You could see the water oozing out through the sand and into little puddles on the surface. If you go further into St Mary’s Creek, it is stagnant, deep, smelling, and you can see bubbles coming up, obviously fermenting in the heat of the day.
With the weather warming up in Alice Springs, I can imagine the number of mosquitoes that will now be plaguing the residents of the Old Timers Home. It is absolutely unacceptable that the government allows this to happen. I can assure the minister that, for the months of May and June, this area was absolutely dry and suddenly we have this huge outpour. You could see the water flowing quite rapidly to the right of the Stuart Highway as you drove out of town, but on the left is where everything starts to stagnate. The sooner the minister can get something done to address this foul ponding, the better.
To more pleasant affairs, on 15 August I was invited to attend the Australian Darwin Chinese Opera Association’s staging of Splendour of Yue Ju. This was part of an Office of Ethnic Affairs program to support the Asia Education Foundation. Many people were involved in developing this program, which was essentially a Cantonese performance of their history, stories, and legends in operatic form.
I remember growing up in Malaysia where the highlight of our day would be to watch Cantonese Opera being performed on wooden stages that they would erect just prior to their arrival. They were decorated quite well with very colourful winged backdrops. While I do not understand much of the Cantonese dialect, the mime in the opera is enough to give one a good understanding of the story.
Maisy Latif, a teacher at Darwin High School, did her utmost to put this together. On the day of the performance, she declared to the audience that she nearly suffered a breakdown trying to get everything together. We had professional performers from Hong Kong as well as amateur performers who are part of the Darwin Cantonese Opera Association. Other people involved included Winnie Wong and Shirley Ng, Louis Wong, Siu Fung Man, Anne Hughes, Ying Chan, Sylvia Chau, Rosemary Wong, Connie Yik, Sharon Wong and Mary Lam. Of those names, only two are from overseas; the rest are locals.
I may not have enough time to read all of this in, but there were some six different plays. The first was the story of a crime investigation. The drama praises the wit and wisdom demonstrated by Magistrate Jaw in the solving of an horrendous murder case. The song reveals how Judge Jaw extracts and teases the truth from the suspect, Widow Zhung, in a comical manner
The second play was entitled General Di Qing’s Dilemma. This story occurs during the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago. General Di Qing is captured by his enemies and forced to marry their princess. The emperor mistakenly suspects Di Qing for having betrayed the kingdom and orders his mother’s arrest and imprisonment. In order to save his mother, General Di Qing manages to intoxicate his wife with a large quantity of alcohol and repossesses his horse and weapons.
The third play was entitled Between Love and Jealousy. General Tong meets his former lover, Concubine Jade, in a battlefield. Jade begs Tong to save her. However, Tong is still angry at Jade, whom he mistakenly believes has betrayed him by marrying the king. Nevertheless, Jade finally convinces Tong that she has been forced into the marriage and that she was still very much in love with him. Unfortunately, Tong is killed in the attempt to save Jade, and the song captures the dramatic moment when they meet.
The fourth was The Dreaming in the Garden of Peonies - the Seduction. This story is one of many popular dramas about romantic encounters between humans and immortals written during the Ming Dynasty about 700 years ago. At that time, Chinese people were ruled by dictators. The scholars who do not want to succumb to dictatorship turn their efforts imaginations into fiction in protest. This song describes explicitly and blatantly how a female ghost rises from her grave to seduce a poor scholar.
The fifth was The Saga of Princess Yin Ping. During the end of the Yuan Dynasty, China was divided into different warring states, the most powerful ruler being the ruler of Ming who defeated all warlords to establish the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century. The drama tells how one of the Ming generals was ordered to spy on a rival state, North Han, located on the northern side of the Yangtze River. The general managed to marry Princess Yin Ping in order to topple North Han. The song captures the confrontational moment between the couple when Princess Yin Ping eventually discovers the truth of her father’s assassins.
Finally, there was Thundering Golden Drums versus Barbarians’ Horns. This is a romantic but tragic story depicting the moment when two lovers are forced to separate for the sake of their survival. The story happened during a period of warring states in ancient China dating back 2300 years.
Each of these descriptions comes from the program for the performance at the Darwin Entertainment Centre.
Finally, last Saturday night I was fortunate to be invited by the Alice Springs Guides to attend the celebration of their 70th Anniversary of Guiding in Alice Springs. It was held at the Guides Hall along Stuart Terrace in Alice Springs. There was a huge turnout; there must have been 250 people in the Guides Hall, celebrating with a dinner cooked by the Guides themselves, and we were all very capably served by the Guides as they acted as waitresses on the tables.
Some of the older Guides who were there were people like Mona Byrnes, who is now in her 70s, Peg Nelson and Telka Williams. They were founding Guides in Alice Springs 70 years ago. On the main wall overlooking the dining area was a photograph of some 15 or 20 young Girl Guides, including Mona Byrnes, Peg Nelson and Telka Williams in their youth.
Ron Saint is the current President of the Supporters Group for the Alice Springs Guides. Tony Spencer is the Treasurer, and Sue Ryde is the Commissioner. It was through the energy of Sue Ryde, ably supported by the Supporters Group and the Guides in Alice Springs, that the function was so successful.
Before we started dinner to celebrate the event, we were asked to say grace. The Guides in Alice Springs have their own grace that they use, which is entitled ‘We Thank you Lord’, which is sung to the tune of Home Among the Gum Trees. I am not going to sing this, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, but I will recite the words:
- We thank you Lord for the gum trees,
the sun and the soft breeze,
the grass outside and the garden wide,
the food upon our plate, the water in our cup
and the friendship that we share.
This was written by a Guide from Manjimup in Western Australia. The Guides on Saturday night sang the grace, and some of the older Guides tried to join in with the tune. In all, it was a very good night. We talked about many issues about guiding. I was a cub and a scout myself a long time ago, so I had some affinity with the Guides in their activities.
One of their complaints is that in previous years, they have received much funding from government to assist them in their activities, but over the last two or three years now, funding has been continually cut, and one of their biggest problems is public liability insurance. They cannot get it, it is too expensive, and there are limitations on their activities because of the risk of public liability, so it is important for the government to address the public liability issue for all community organisations in the Northern Territory.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, from little things, big things grow. I want to tell the House about something that small that started in Alice Springs and has become nationwide.
Did you see this ad in the paper: ‘Ever wanted a nationwide exhibition? Here is your blank canvas’. It is the Telstra Paint a Pay Phone art competition. What, you might ask, does that have to do with Alice Springs? If you look at the bottom, it says Chippy Miller, Provisioning Manager, Pay Phone Services. Who is Chippy Miller? Chippy Miller is the Telstra Pay Phones Provisioning Manager in Alice Springs, a guy who has been there for many years. He had this idea a couple of years ago when he saw the vandalism on pay phones, particularly down at the Gap. There was graffiti, they had been broken into and it was just, for him, a constant battle to get his workers out there to repair them every couple of days. So he had this great idea. He went to the Gap Youth Centre and said to the kids: ‘Telstra will provide the paint if you will do the paint work. Would you take over the pay phone boxes?’ Telstra did that and the kids got involved under the supervision of the people from the Gap Youth Centre and produced these beautiful pay phone boxes with wonderful designs and paintings. I table photographs of some of the boxes, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker.
What happened? Were they vandalised from then on? No way! The kids took ownership of the pay phone boxes and the work they had done, so much so that calls for repairs dropped considerably to just one a month at the most. The kids were pretty quick. If they saw anyone giving their pay phone box what we might call ‘unwanted attention’, they would go to Gap Youth Centre staff and say: ‘Hey, there is someone out there mucking around with our box’. The boxes remain painted as they were originally by those kids about 18 months ago, and it has been a huge contributing factor in the reduction of call-outs for Telstra.
At the time, it was recognised in some of the women’s magazines, but it has been reignited again by Telstra with their Paint a Pay Phone competition, which, might I add, closes at the end of the month. I was very pleased as a follow-up to see in today’s paper: ‘Drab phone boxes seek funky design’. Stuart Park students are entering the competition. I have sent an e-mail around to schools in my electorate to ask: ‘Why don’t you enter?’, because most schools have a pay phone close by. It is a great idea.
I want to say to Chippy Miller and the young kids in Alice Springs: well done! It is a nice little initiative that you do not think very much about, but Telstra have acknowledged it. Chippy is one of those unassuming people who do not seek any recognition for this, but he deserves recognition for what he has done. Certainly, it has instilled in the kids some pride, and that is important. I wanted to draw members’ attention to that tonight and say: well done, Chippy Miller, and the kids at the Gap Youth Centre.
Dr TOYNE (Stuart): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I would like to speak about a great Territory event that has been around since 1963. I am sure there are some members of the House who would have heard about the Yuendumu Sports Weekend, but for those who have not, I will tell you a little of the history of it.
Yuendumu Sports Weekend, as the name suggests, is held in Yuendumu, 330 km north-west of Alice Springs on the Tanami Highway. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is the original Aboriginal sports and cultural festival in the Territory, one that has paved the way for many others to follow, such as Barunga, Garma and Merrepen. The Yuendumu community is the home of some 900 people, predominately Warlpiri people, and has close cultural connections to other communities such as Lajamanu, Nyirripi, Willowra, Yuelumu, and Papunya.
In the early days, the sports weekend was renowned for athletics events and more traditional activities like fire making and spear throwing. Whilst athletics no longer plays a part in the sports weekend, the traditional fire making and spear throwing events have continued through to the current sports program. The event is normally run over the three days of the August long weekend, depending on who is winning the football, which sometimes means the football grand final is not played until the following Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, depending on how many replays you need.
Activities held on the long weekend this year included the ever popular footy games, softball, basketball, spear throwing, fire making and the very popular Battle of the Bands. This year there were teams from as far away as Canteen Creek and Balgo in Western Australia, as well as Central Australian communities of Lajamanu, Ali Curung, Papunya, Ltyentye Apurte, Ntaria, Nyirripi, Willowra, Kintore and Yuelamu.
The results of the events for 2004 were: football winners – Yuelumu defeated Lajamanu in the final; basketball winners for women were Yuendumu defeating Lajamanu again; softball winners – Yuendumu defeated Papunya; in the Battles of the Bands – Wirri Manu Band from Balgo, Western Australia. The spear throwing winner was Jack Jakamarra Long from Papunya and the fire making winner was Jack Jakamarra Ross from Yuendumu, but they reckon we cheated because we had much better bean tree and made much better heat, but that is their story.
This year the sports weekend was able to attract some quality country and western music artists to keep the community entertained including Anne Kirkpatrick, daughter of the late Slim Dusty, Lindsay Butler and Harold Williams Junior, the son of Buddy Williams.
Like any major event in the Territory, be it the Finke Desert Race or the Masters Games, the Yuendumu Sports Weekend relies on the hard work of volunteers and the community in which the event is being held. This year was no exception. I would like to mention those convenors of the various sports and activities held over the weekend who have put in a lot of hard work and time to make it successful.
There are quite a few of them, but it is important to recognise them publicly because they have all done a fantastic job: Ned Jampajinba Hargraves, Eddie Jampajinba Robertson, Warren Japanangka Williams, Lindsay Japanardi Williams, Alec Japanardi Tasman, Harry Jakamarra Nelson, Stephen Juppurrula Morton, Grace Napanardi Williams, Judith Napanardi Hargraves, Geraldine Nungala Robertson, Kelly Napanangka Michael, Luanne Napanardi Williams, Anna Napanardi Penhall, Ned Jakamarra Wilson, Scotty Japanangka Brown, Neville Japanardi Poulson, James Japanardi Marshall, Frank Baarda and Peter Gamble.
Where to for the future of the Yuendumu Sports Weekend? I know the community and organisers are getting excited about celebrating the sports weekend’s 50th Anniversary of this great Territorian event in a few years’ time. They are also keen to secure longer term support from sponsors and government, particularly given the benefits of the sports weekend, which includes preventing substance abuse and promoting healthy lifestyles.
Yuendumu has suffered over the years in attempting to keep the sports weekend strong and popular. It has been very hard with many other Aboriginal sports and cultural festivals happening around the Territory. There is more emphasis placed on communities and organisers to plan and organise the events in a more professional way. There is also pressure on communities to demonstrate outcomes and messages that the event delivers to the public attending.
This year and into the future, the organisers have begun to promote the sports weekend as a grog free event, which is a very positive direction for them to move. Given the high profile of the sports weekend, the large numbers that attended over the long weekend and the positive activities held, it has quietly but effectively worked in a preventative manner already.
Also, if the success of the Yuendumu community has had through the Mt Theo petrol sniffing program can be translated in promoting the sports weekend as a grog free event, the outcomes can only be positive for them and the rest of the communities.
There is potential for promoting the sports weekend for tourism, which is an area worth investigating. Many people come up for the sports weekend. It has quite a name around Australia and it would not take much to package up some additional attractions for visitors. There are many visitors from Alice Springs and tourists who happen to be in Alice Springs and hear about the event.
There are some real possibilities for the inherent attractions of Yuendumu to be built more strongly into the sports weekend. For example the Warlukurlangu Artists and their constant supply of high quality art that could be shown to visitors, and the Warlpiri Media Association could showcase their visual arts and have product that visitors can take away with them, such as CDs and videos.
It is something that I would like to see developed in addition to bringing back some of the really strong earlier activities that characterised the Yuendumu Sports Weekend, particularly the athletics. We would certainly like to have another look at that.
The community sees the sports weekend as a really important focal point for the continuing need to bring young people of new generations into cultural activity. There is talk, as we move towards the 50th anniversary, to strengthen the cultural side of the Yuendumu Sports Weekend, introducing a contemporary art exhibition, ceremony and dancing and link that to the contemporary music so it could be a very rich mixture of traditional and contemporary activities for which the Warlpiri are so well known.
The Yuendumu Sports Weekend has a relevant place in the future of Yuendumu. We will be talking about it with the community as we debrief from this year’s event and start to prepare for next year and on toward the 50th anniversary. Yuendumu can be justly proud that they have kept this event going every year since the 1960s. Let us watch it go on and get stronger into the future.
Ms MARTIN (Fannie Bay): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, it was my very great pleasure to attend the 29th Australian Women of the Year Association luncheon, held for the first time in Darwin at the International Room at SKYCITY earlier this month.
I was welcomed by Shirley McKerrow, the Chair of the Darwin Luncheon Committee, and she praised the work of the committee for all the energy and enthusiasm that they had given to this worthwhile cause. Shirley was supported by a great committee: Vice-Chair, Sylvia Wolfe; Secretary, Julianne Quinn; and Treasurer, Llana Fullerton. They were ably assisted by Jeanette Anictomatis, Wendy James and Barbara Vos. To this committee, I say well done on a most successful event.
The Australian Women of the Year Association was founded to help women, to bring together a cross-section of working women who had distinguished themselves in their careers, to meet and listen to the views of other women on important issues. Invited guests had distinguished themselves either by courage, artistic or academic achievement, business or professional talent and work in their communities.
A further aim of the lunch is to raise funds for a different charity each year. This year’s support was directed to Camp Quality, which provides fun and activities for kids with cancer and other serious illnesses.
Teri Underwood was an excellent MC who provided continuity as well as commentary on events and proceedings, and, as always, she did a wonderful job. Cathy Banks contributed by singing the national anthem. Lyn Amy, the national president, provided a welcome, and Pat Williams said grace before we started our lunch.
I was the first speaker, paying tribute to the women who have mentored me in my life, at work, at school and, above all, my mother. The Honourable Justice Sally Thomas was the second speaker, and she was terrific, as Sally always is when she speaks. She entertained us with stories from her experiences in the court room as well as a wonderful analogy of the status of women and the history of the position of the Queen in chess. I cannot possibly do justice to Sally’s great speech, but I do intend to go back and read Alice Through the Looking Glass again for the Red Queen’s advice to Alice, something we should all remember.
Professor MaryAnn Bin-Sallik from Charles Darwin University was the final speaker, and she entertained us with stories of growing up in the camp at Winnellie and her mother’s drive and ambition to see her daughter educated and financially secure, an inspirational speech from MaryAnn, which was also very funny.
All the women who attended are notable for their achievements and their diversity: there were business women, public servants, retired women, artists and entrepreneurs. Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I seek leave to have the list of names of those who attended incorporated into the record because it is very impressive.
Leave granted.
- Dorothy Edith Fogg, Yvonne Forrest, Carole Frost, Christine Fuglsand, Alana Fullarton, Rama Gaind, Helen Galton, Sue Galton, Merle Gowan, Norma Grant, Jenny Greenwood, Toni Gulson, Jackie Hargreaves, Jennifer Heath, Nola Lillian Heger, Heather Helms, Barbara Henry, Jan Hills, Margaret Hughes, Helga Ivanyi, Diana Jarvis, Maria Kenda, Joy Kuhl, Kate Laurence, Karen Liddle, Hillarie Lindsay, Sara Lynch, Linda Mackenzie, Alison MacTaggart, Fele Mann, Chistina Maroulls, Beryl McIntosh, Shirley McKerrow, OAM, Maureen McSweeney, Mat Peasey, Shirley Meldrum OAM, Lynette Ainsworth, Marion Allen, Yvette Fay Amer, OAM, AM, Lyn Blain Amey, Jeanette Anictomatis, Dr Val Asche, AM, Helen Baber, OAM, Carol Bacon, Nola Bailey, Bev Bainbridge, Kathy Banks, Muriel Barasso, Sandra Bardas, OAM, Carol Barolits, OAM, Coral Beebe, MaryAnn Bin-Sallik, Leona Boller, Maureen Anne Bremner, Beryl Briggs, Heather Brown, Karen Brown, Noreen Brown, Annette Burke, Stroma Buttrose, Sue Carter, MLA, Doreen Cherry, Jennifer Clarke, PSM, Dorothy Coleman, Beverley Cook, Jenny Cooper, Kaye Cowley, Sharon Davis, Lucy Dohnt, Val Dyer, Nerys Evans, Lorna Fejo, Suzanne Flynn, Patricia Michell, Patricia Miller, AP, Margaret Milner, Jenny Mitchell, Holly Morgan, Hilda Muir, Jennifer Muir, Jude Mulcahy, Jilly Spender Nakamara, Kerin O’Dea, Joy Ormandy, Evelynne Otto, Noel Padham, Irene Palmer, Anne Petch, Helene Pretty, Josephine Prosser, Monica Prosser, Kezia Purick, Julianne Quinn, Cecily Rasmussen, Ruth Richards, Dianne Rule, Mary Sander, Vicki Schultz, Catherine Shannon-Cleghorne, Sharyn Sherrington, Yvonne Simington, Jo Simmonds, Helen Summers, Sarah Swarbrick, Pompea Sweet, Moira Tandy, Sally Thomas, AM, Beverley Threlfo, Alicia Tollner, Mari Underwood, Teri Underwood, Monica Van Den Nieuwenhof, Pat Venturin, Lisa Victor, Pamela Wall, Di Wallach, Susan Webber, Marjorie E Whinchup, Kate Williams, Pat Williams, OAM, Serena Wilson, Sylvia Wolf, Kay Wright, Diane Zischke.
Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, my electorate of Fannie Bay is usually a hive of activity. With August being Seniors Month, the trend has continued. One recent Seniors Month event was Bridge for Beginners and the More Experienced. It was held on 7 August at the Bridge Club in Leanyer. The Northern Territory Bridge Association and Arafura Bridge Club jointly promoted this event for which, I am pleased to say, they received a Seniors Month grant of $500. I am delighted to report that one of my constituents, Jean Vickery, who was partnered by Ruth Shields, visiting from New Zealand, won the Seniors event.
Several other Fannie Bay constituents were also involved in the day, including Joan Brears from Stuart Park playing with Janet Hickman from down the track at Herbert, who came second overall. Joan Fong from Fannie Bay was playing with Molly Cook, who was also from interstate. Peter Bailey of Tiwi played with Gun Close of Woolner. Monty O’Mahoney was there with his wife, Kathy, and her sister, Colleen. Monty was paired with Colleen, while Kathy played with Ramanathan Selvaratnam. Paula Compton of Nightcliff was partnered by Judy Miller of Larrakeyah. Eric and Pam Nunn of Larrakeyah played yet another game after just returning from Melbourne, where they represented the Northern Territory at the Australian National Bridge Championships. John and Gloria Page of Wulagi also took part in the event; it was Gloria’s first game ever and she thoroughly enjoyed it. I am also pleased to note that Mavis Findlay of Malak and Flo Findley of Coconut Grove came in third on their combined age and score. It was a great event to get those who have never played bridge to think about it and at least have a go.
On 4 August, I hosted a morning tea for teachers and ancillary staff at Stuart Park Primary. The morning tea is an annual event, and I enjoy catching up with all the teachers and staff. Principal, Bernie Bree, Assistant Principals, Christine Makepeace and Richard Woodside, and Registrar, Carole Metcalfe, lead an excellent team at Stuart Park Primary. It is great to have Richard Woodside on board. Richard has been at Nakara for quite a few years and was promoted to Assistant Principal at Stuart Park, and to have an Assistant Principal at a school that is growing so fast certainly makes a difference.
During the morning tea, I took the opportunity to present a Cockatoo Island Resource Kit to the school, and to have a chat to Stuart Park students, Paul Raqiyawa, Justina Blom, Rosie O’Reilly and Billy Dwyer. I am sure all members of the Assembly are aware of this excellent education resource. After all, the Assembly subsidised the costs of the kits for all electorate offices that chose to purchase them. So, Madam Speaker, thanks to you.
I would also like to tell members about two of my special constituents. John and Elaine Edwards are a wonderful and energetic couple who are usually involved in some kind of project to help the community. For example, two years ago they drove down to Woomera Detention Centre with play equipment and resources they had collected to set up a play group for detained children. While they were unable to meet with any of the children, they were able to leave the resources they had gathered at the centre, which, given the immense security at the time, was no easy task.
The idea for John and Elaine’s latest project, the Help Link Network, arose when John was admitted to hospital in Tasmania with chest pains while on holiday. John was, thankfully, okay, but the time he was in hospital was stressful and difficult for Elaine, as she had to manage their effects, including their car and their trailer, and find somewhere to stay.
On their return to Darwin, John and Elaine swung into action to set up a network of willing families, currently six with two more to be added if required, to offer a free service to non-resident families and individuals who require emergency accommodation and support due to the sudden hospitalisation of a family member. I have been supporting John and Elaine in establishing this service, which will operate on a referral basis from the hospital. John and Elaine have been very grateful for the support and assistance of Vicki Geytenbeek and Jane Mackintosh of RDH.
The generosity of participating families is remarkable. The service offers transport from the hospital to safe and secure accommodation in a family home, meals and the use of a telephone. As this is an emergency service, assistance will only be provided on a short-term basis, generally expected to be 24 to 36 hours, and there is no charge for the service.
John and Elaine will be trialling this project over the next few months. I wish them and the participating families the very best with what is a wonderful and giving project.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I rise to talk about one of my shadow portfolio areas specific to the local government area.
The Jabiru Town Council is established under its own legislation and does not directly come under the control of the Local Government Act. Nevertheless, it does come under the auspices of the Minister for Local Government. I draw his attention to, and I know he is aware of it, the situation at Jabiru and, in the process, I wish to discuss the philosophy of how this government is approaching local government issues.
The philosophy of the current government on local government issues was outlined during passage of the Local Government Act, which was not supported by members on this side. It was a philosophy of intervention: get involved and control the application of administrators where possible in times of trouble with councils. During the Estimates process, the attitude of government was reinforced when the minister made no attempt to side-step the fact that they intended to use administrators from time to time; the only question was how much they were going to be worth.
I am aware that the Jabiru council is currently under some stress. As I understand it, it seems to be divided into two camps. I have spoken to some of the people involved in the council during the course of today, and I know that they are meeting now. It is now 7.50 pm, and the results of that meeting are not yet known to me.
However, if the meeting is unable to resolve some of the internal issues, I am wondering what options are available to the government. I am concerned that the government will take an approach that is in the very nature of its philosophy towards local government attitudes: invasive and intrusive. I hope that the local government authorities and the minister tread a little more lightly in relation to the Jabiru Town Council and try to find some mediated result prior to them adhering to their general philosophy on local government.
Time will tell exactly what the approach is going to be from the Minister for Local Government. I hope that issues for the Jabiru council, which was established under separate legislation, will resolve themselves and, if so, I hope they continue to provide proper services for the people of Jabiru who have to live with many of the decisions that they make.
Tonight, I also express some surprise in relation to the answer given by the minister today in Question Time about the approach of one of his staffers who briefed the media on the location of Warren Anderson whilst he was talking to Parks and Wildlife. The advice I have received, and certainly the suggestion by Warren Anderson, is that the staffer, Chips Mackinolty, went out of his way to contact the media whilst the meeting was taking place between Mr Anderson and Parks and Wildlife.
During my question, I asked whether the minister is normally going to operate in this fashion if he simply just does not like someone. To my dismay, there was not attempt at all by the minister to deny that this is going to be his approach. In fact, he said he was going to encourage his press secretary to continue to operate in that fashion. That augers poorly for how the government projects itself to the community.
Government needs to take an approach to the community as being fair-minded, especially when you consider that the minister, at the time, was fully aware that charges were being brought against Mr Anderson. That he would consider it normal practice to word up the media about where they could find particular suspects is highly unusual. It would be the equivalent of the minister for police saying his press secretary is welcome to reveal the whereabouts of suspects in particular crimes. There is absolutely no difference.
If that is going to be the approach of government, the government should wonder how on earth it is governing the Northern Territory. It is an outrageous suggestion that any minister would condone these practices by a press secretary. I am certain that the minister for police would not condone it if one of his press secretaries was speaking to the media and telling them where suspects may be located, especially if those suspects were currently talking to police officers.
Mr Anderson was talking to Parks and Wildlife staff, an area of control directly under the administration of the minister for Community Development. The equivalent in the police would be exactly that: if police had someone at the police station and a press secretary rang the media to say ‘Such and such a person is at the police station. If that person walks out the front door shortly, I am sure you will get some footage of it’, the minister for police would frown on it or, at least, I hope he would frown upon it.
There are any other numbers of ministers who have authority over legislation, which often has a policing role attached. If any of those ministers think that is an acceptable way to go about their business, that is, setting people up so that the media pack can have a decent crack at them, this government has totally lost its way in terms its priorities. Its priorities should be governance, not satisfying the media pack.
The media is the conduit by which all members of parliament get their messages across and certainly it is reasonable to contact the media from time to time, but there must be boundaries. Those boundaries must fall within the proprieties of government, which have been far exceeded in this instance because Mr Anderson was set up and that is the bottom line.
We have all seen footage on the television of Mr Anderson having to endure certain attention. It is surprising in the extreme that there is communication between ministers’ offices and the media so that the media can determine the whereabouts of subjects. It is abhorrent.
The minister’s response today clearly sends a signal that if you are going to have a private meeting with this government and the government does not like the result, or the government does not like the individual concerned for whatever reason, that person may walk out of a meeting straight into the lens of a camera. To be door-stopped in that fashion, set up by government, proudly defended by government, is a very sick and dismal sign indeed.
I hope that the government heeds these warnings because I have not seen anything so disgraceful in terms of trying to satisfy media blood lust in my time in this House.
Mr HENDERSON (Wanguri): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, one of the great pleasures of being a member of parliament is interacting with a wide range of diverse groups of people based on culture, ethnic background and a spectrum of age groups. Over the last couple of months, I have been very pleased to be able to join many of them at different functions and being able to get together at these functions, irrespective of background, age or economic status.
I made an election promise to my constituents at the last election to restart an effective Neighbourhood Watch Wanguri-Leanyer Branch, which would make our community safer and stronger. I am happy to say that in four years we have one of the most active Neighbourhood Watch communities in Darwin with over 250 members and a very proactive approach to keeping an eye out for neighbours and our community.
Over the month of May, the Wanguri electorate could boast, and it was great to see these statistics at the latest Neighbourhood Watch meeting in my electorate office, that we had the lowest crime statistics and overall police reports in Wanguri and Leanyer in 10 years, a real sign that Neighbourhood Watch works and that the increased resources that government is giving our police force is making a real difference. Everyone who attended that meeting applauded the efforts of the local Casuarina police.
Neighbourhood Watch has been such a strong backbone within our community, I hope that our crime prevention initiatives cannot only be increased, but also keep spreading the news of Neighbourhood Watch within my electorate. As one constituent said: ‘We need to pull down the black sheets between our fences and get to know our neighbours again’. I am pleased to say that the Wanguri community is strengthening and growing all the time. A couple of people who have moved into properties in the electorate have taken down the black plastic.
Neighbourhood Watch hosted a free Family Fun Day on 8 August at Leanyer Primary School oval. This was another excellent initiative by the local Neighbourhood Watch branch to build safe and strong communities, but also to get everyone together for a cheap day out in the sun. It was a fantastic afternoon. The day was a huge success, with over 400 people enjoying the free sausage sizzle, activities for the kids like jumping castles, train rides, a cricket match, foam by the Firies and performances by local schools and community groups. Not often is there a day that families can attend without spending a cent, so this was great for the people of Leanyer and Wanguri.
Neighbourhood Watch had a surge in members on the day as well as engraving over 30 bikes to help lower unclaimed stolen property. Schools had the opportunity to do some fund raising, and community groups were also able to get some exposure. Special thanks go to Jessica Horn, Erin Grace, Leanyer Primary School Principal, Henry Gray, Kay Cowley for running the great cricket match, Tegan Green, Hayley Williams, our Neighbourhood Watch tattoo artist, Neighbourhood Watch staff, Ken Mildred and Geoff Pickering, for their organising, and Paul Wyatt, whom we all know, who again cooked up a storm on his barbeque. As the member for Karama said the other night, he is well on his way to achieving 1500 sausages cooked at Neighbourhood Watch functions and is well known and regarded by everyone in this House. He does a great job.
I thank everyone involved in making this day a big hit. I can guarantee it will be an annual event for as long as I am lucky enough to be the member for Wanguri. Next Dry Season, we will hold it at Wanguri oval.
It is August, and as all members will know, it is Seniors Month. I have over 300 senior constituents who reside in the Wanguri electorate, and I wanted to do something special for them to celebrate Seniors Month. I gave my senior residents the chance to come to Parliament House for a tour guided by me, and to enjoy morning tea in the Main Hall. Everyone who attended had a great time, as many of them had not been to Parliament House since it opened. This is the House of the people, and it is surprising to find people who have lived in Darwin for 20 or 30 years who have never been here. They were overwhelmed by the building. It was great to see the seniors having a good morning.
Wanguri Primary School is 28 years old this year. In that time we have seen many changes. Staff come and go, facilities get better and students pass through the doors. It is a great school and, thanks to the government, it was announced in the 2004-05 Budget that the school will again go through some much needed changes to ensure it caters for the needs of students. $130 000 will go towards upgrading and improving school facilities and equipment. This includes $10 900 to improve withdrawal rooms in the school; $12 500 for airconditioning the stage in the Assembly area; and $107 000 will put up shade over the basketball courts.
With all of these upgrades about to happen, Wanguri has also seen a change of principal recently. The staff, students, parents and I had to say goodbye to Maree Bredhauer, who had been at the school for the past 18 months. Maree did a fantastic job in her time at Wanguri, was well loved by staff, students and the community, and I thank her for her hard work and devotion and wish her the best with her new appointment. With Maree’s departure, we welcomed a new principal, Jenny Robinson, who is a friendly face in the electorate as she has come from Leanyer Primary School where she was Assistant Principal. Jenny is very welcome at Wanguri Primary. I have known her for quite a while and she will be fantastic as principal at Wanguri.
I have been working on a couple of other issues in my electorate. One was a proposal from Telstra to erect a 20-metre mobile phone tower in Leanyer at the bottom of Hodgson Drive. We held a community meeting and invited Telstra to speak to their proposal. The consensus of the meeting, and I was very pleased that Telstra agreed, was to withdraw their current application to the Development Consent Authority.
Telstra is now working with my colleague, the member for Johnston’s department, DIPE, to look for an alternative site in the Leanyer area that does not have such a visual impact on constituents. I am hoping for a good outcome for the residents in Hodgson Drive and surrounding streets. It is good that a big corporation like Telstra can come to a community meeting and listen to what the community has to say. It was all done in a very good spirit. Telstra agreed to withdraw their application, work with me as local member and the government to see if there is an appropriate alternative site that does not have such a high visual impact on the neighbouring amenity.
One of the great moments that I have had as member for Wanguri, and with my constituents in the community recently, was celebrating with a large number of those constituents the Greek soccer team’s UEFA European Championship victory. I was very pleased to go along to a function at the Cypriot Community a couple of nights before the big final game and hear that the community was having a lot of trouble in terms of arranging a big screen for the morning at the Greek School. Working with Top End Sounds and the community, the government was able to provide a big screen and financially support that.
I thank Austar and place on the Parliamentary Record tonight that they agreed to waive their normal community charges to provide that broadcast. I was there at 4 o’clock in the morning with 500 or 600 of our Greek community, my 10 year-old son - the member for Millner was there along with other members – and it was a night that I will never forget. It was a fantastic occasion, and when that header went in to give the Greeks their first championship trophy, the roof nearly went off the Greek School at Nightcliff.
It was a sign of how strong that community is. It was great to be part of it. For my 10 year-old boy, Alasdair, it was something that he will certainly remember. After the celebrations in the early hours of the morning, we drove around town and saw the Greeks with the flags out of their windows, beeping their horns, and the excitement around the city was just amazing …
Mr Bonson: In the mall.
Mr HENDERSON: And in the mall, yes. Walking up the mall to the steps of Parliament House, the Greek community was led by John Nicolakis, Tony Miaoudis, and Sammy Hatzivalsamis singing the Greek national anthem, waving the flags on the steps of Parliament House and calling for the Chief Minister, unfortunately the Chief was not here. It was fantastic and, as Alasdair said to me: ‘I will always remember the day that the Greeks went crazy in Darwin’. To our Greek community, it was great to be part of that.
It just goes to show how out of touch the opposition are at the moment, particularly the member for Drysdale in respect of the poisonous media release he issued. It hurt and offended many members of the Greek community that the opposition would begrudge a few dollars of taxpayers’ money to celebrate what, for that community, was a very special moment. As many constituents in my electorate said: ‘We have worked here and paid our taxes for many years’. To begrudge them a couple of beers and a bite to eat to celebrate a magnificent win for their community to which everyone was invited was very churlish.
This is the House of the people. We have people from all walks of life; all different ethnic communities, sporting groups, business groups come here to share the ambience of Parliament House and enjoy some social interaction. To deny the Greek community the same opportunity and to be so churlish about it was quite incredulous. I just could not believe that they, particularly the member for Drysdale, had got his antennae so wrong. The Greek community did take extraordinary offence to his comments. They have long memories and will remember those comments.
It is the year of the Greeks this year, with the Olympics in Athens as we speak. It was great the other night to go to the Greek school again for the Olympic opening ceremony. Congratulations to the kids of the Greek school who put on a fantastic version of the opening ceremony, with the junior and senior soccer games going to 10 or 11 pm. I would like to congratulate Lilliane Gomatos and her organising team. It was great to be there for the evening and to share in the excitement of a very important and strong part of our community which has made such a great contribution to Darwin over many years. 2004 has been a fantastic year with the European Championship win and the Olympics, and I hope that they have a 2004 that they will never forget. Certainly, Alasdair and I will never forget the night that the Greeks went crazy in Darwin.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I comment, sadly, on the death of a great Territorian, Mrs Inez McLeod who passed away at Royal Darwin Hospital on Wednesday, 18 August 2004.
Mrs Inez McLeod was one of those great Territorians who did a lot of her work out of the spotlight. Much of it was done raising the fantastic McLeod family. Mrs McLeod came to Darwin from Melbourne with her husband, John Senior and children Jock, Ian, Jenny, Janet, Bill and Donald in April 1964.
They moved to Darwin as a result of Mr McLeod taking up the position of Building Supervisor with the Department of Works. They were to stay in Darwin for two years and then return to Melbourne. However, this was not the case and the entire family remained in Darwin.
Mrs McLeod will be remembered from over the years as a tuck shop lady at Nightcliff and Parap Primary Schools, and tea lady for Transport and Works. She was involved in the Brownies, and was a volunteer worker with the Salvation Army for over 30 years. Her charity work with the Salvos centred mainly around visiting and assisting people at Royal Darwin Hospital.
She is survived by her husband, six children, 18 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. Mrs Inez McLeod is the mother of Ian and Jock McLeod, both of whom have outstanding service with the Northern Territory Fire Service. One of her grandsons is none other than the famous Andrew McLeod who plays for the Adelaide Crows. Two of her sons married relations of mine and they will sorely miss their grandmother, mother and wife.
I hope that the McLeod family stays strong. Mrs Inez McLeod was buried today. I am sure that she will be remembered with great love and her family will continue to represent her in an outstanding manner.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I wish to speak about the Darwin Golf Club and its General Manager, Mrs Robyn Miller-Smith.
Members would be aware that many clubs and associations in the Territory today are facing financial hardship. It is my pleasure to advise members that the Darwin Golf Club, through a bit of hard work and lateral thinking, is moving against the trend.
Three years ago, the Darwin Golf Club was in a position in which many sporting clubs find themselves: increasing expenses, dwindling income through low participation rates and ever-increasing debt. The club needed to find the funds to pay off a $94 000 residual debt for equipment purchased in the 1980s, and faced the prospect of a significant loss for the financial year. The club embarked on a national search for a new general manager, and appointed Mrs Robyn Miller-Smith to the position.
Robyn arranged to refinance the debt for a short term to allow her committee to put some ideas into place to try to arrest the slide into debt. The club realised its best assets were the professional ground staff and the myriad of machinery required to maintain a championship golf course, much of which was under-utilised during parts of the year.
In consultation with the committee, the course superintendent, Shane Bisseker, and members, it was agreed that one prospect was to utilise the assets and have the machinery pay for itself whilst also providing a regular cash flow to the club and eliminating debt accumulation for regular equipment replacements.
Robyn approached me and asked if I could arrange a meeting with the Minister for Sport and Recreation to let the executive committee find out what it needed to do to be in a position to tender for grounds maintenance contracts at various government-managed sport facilities. Refreshingly, this club was not seeking a hand out, but rather assistance in the form of advice and expertise in operating on a more commercial footing and still presenting the golf course as a top class championship course.
The meeting was arranged between Minister Ah Kit, Robyn Miller-Smith and club President, Phil Timney. As a result of the dedication, commitment and plain hard work by the general manager and president, the club achieved endorsement as an accredited tenderer for government business. Subsequently, the Darwin Golf Club was awarded the Marrara Sports Precinct tender that runs through to May 2005. The club’s greens superintendent also provided valuable expert advice in the preparation for Test Cricket and AFL matches on a commercial basis. Income from the Marrara contract has allowed the club to reduce its operating debt, replace outdated machinery and improve club house facilities. At the same time, the club converted an operating loss to a small profit within 12 months.
With the finances under control, the club embarked on an advertising campaign to encourage more people, including members, social golfers and visitors, to use the club and golf course facilities. The results are still flowing in, with the club posting a small profit again this financial year with further significant reduction of overall debt.
The tender has resulted in the employment of five additional staff members, making a total 16 greens staff including two apprentices, one of whom is a motor apprentice and the other is studying a Level 3 Horticulture certificate. The office also employs a trainee office manager studying a Level 3 Business Certificate through Group Training NT. This is the second trainee the club has successfully put through the course. By getting out of the square in terms of the way the club went about its business, Robyn and her executive committee have not only put the club on a sound financial footing, but the transition has resulted in the creation of training opportunities for apprentices and cadets.
To assist with the overall growth of the club, they recently we took over the operations of the Golf Professional Shop, which was previously managed by a private contractor. The arrangement is also generating further income for the club as well as providing employment for two full-time staff, three part-time and two casuals. The success of this venture to date looks like resulting in the employment of another two trainee staff.
The Golf Professional Shop is now the club’s marketing arm as it is the first point of contact for the public. Utilising expertise of Shane Bisseker and his professional ground staff, the club has recently established a turf farm on leased land in Humpty Doo in a joint venture with a local landscape gardener. It is expected that this venture will also provide regular cash flow to the club and allow the club to embark on major renovation work to greens, fairways, and tees with turf grown for specific purposes available at the cost of growing it.
In May 2004, the Darwin Golf Club invited five time British open winner, and international renowned golf course architect, Peter Thompson, to inspect and come up with the blueprint for future work for the course. Peter had not been in Darwin since the construction phase of the course and was pleasantly surprised when he saw the way the course had developed over the years. He made a number of suggestions on improvements to the course, and made a number of recommendations to the committee. Peter Thompson will be presenting a written report with his recommendations to the committee in the near future and you can expect to see further improvements of the golf course once the recommendations are adopted.
The great work being done at Darwin Golf Club is not limited to looking after the interests of members only. Whilst not widely publicised, the club is an active member of the community in terms of fund raising and assistance to other non-profit organisations. It is rare that a private golf club will open it doors to charities and other community organisations where there is no tangible benefit for the members or an addition to the bottom profit line. Happily for our community, Darwin Golf Club has a very strong sense of what it means to be corporately responsible.
To date in 2004, the Darwin Golf Club has hosted numerous charity golf days as fundraisers for individual association needs. In excess of $25 000 has been raised this year for organisations including the NT Irish Association, the Variety Club, Camp Quality, the Rotary Clubs of Darwin, the Lords Taverner supporting junior cricket in the NT, and many more. Over many years, the club has also made significant contributions from its own fundraisers to Legacy NT.
The club also provides their club house facilities free of charge to be used for dinners and other fundraising activities for non-profit organisations. The executive committee of the Darwin Golf Club believes that the goodwill resulting from the charity days coupled with exposure of the golf course and club facilities to the wider community provides a clear win-win result.
Darwin Golf Club could not have realised its recent achievements without the foresight of the executive committee and the commitment and hard work of Robyn Miller-Smith. Unfortunately for the club, Robyn is moving on to greener pastures having secured a position as PR Manager for a major Darwin law firm. I take this opportunity to congratulate Robyn for leaving the Darwin Golf Club in a far stronger position than it was in when she arrived. I wish her well in her new role. I imagine she will need to engage all her negotiating skills to keep the peace between lawyers and their clients. Past experience indicates that she will do well.
I congratulate members of the committee of Darwin Golf Club for their innovative and professional approach to operating a major sports club in an increasingly difficult environment for clubs and non-profit organisations generally. I look forward to reporting to members on further facility improvements at the club as it pushes for inclusion in the top 100 golf clubs in Australia.
Robyn’s replacement as general manager will leave big shoes to be filled, however with the strategies now in place, I am sure that not only members of the club but the Darwin community at large will enjoy the benefits of access to a first-class golfing facility.
Dr BURNS (Johnston): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I rise to speak about an organisation that has its major facility in my electorate, and that is Somerville Community Services Incorporated, which is an arm of the Uniting Church and does fantastic work in our community.
I was fortunate to be able to deliver a cheque in the amount of $3850 from the Community Benefit Fund to Sommerville, which will be used towards the No Interest Loan Scheme launched in the Territory last year. I will give some detail about that scheme later. First I want to speak about the staff and board members at Somerville who, working together, make that organisation such a great asset to the community.
During the presentation of the cheque on 6 August, I was treated to a truly excellent morning tea with Vicki O’Halloran, who is the CEO, Cherry Cameron, the Manager of Disability Services, who incidentally was celebrating her birthday that day, Josie Bacus, the Finance Manager, Elaine Castles, Executive Assistant, Kathy West, the Finance and Payroll Officer, Norma Coonan, the Receptionist, Janey Bacus, Acting Finance Officer, James Rhee, IT Support and Administration Officer, Gerri Rantall-Sykes, Family Support Worker and Counsellor, Carol Cendo, Administration Coordinator, and Adelaide Dos Santos, the Manager’s Assistant.
Vicki took me on a tour of Sommerville’s premises on Lee Point Road. They were very impressive and offer a conducive environment for both workers and clients. Sommerville is a local non-government, not-for-profit youth, family and community welfare organisation based in the Northern Territory and is the Territory’s own. It maintains strong constitutional links with the Uniting Church in Australia, but is governed by an independent and professional board of directors, ensuring that the agency has the capacity to respond to the needs of people, whatever their circumstances.
The board of directors comprises Daphne Read, President, Vice-Presidents Chris Tudor and Bruce March, and board members Stuart McMillan, Barry Prior, Margaret Black, Ron Brandt, Meredith Day, John Edwards, Phil Johnston, Kevin Kennedy, Quentin Dennis and Jan Richardson.
Disability Services manages nine houses, providing supported accommodation for people with disabilities and with developmental disabilities and high support needs. Six of the houses are located in the northern suburbs, one in Howard Springs and two in Katherine, each accommodating up to six clients ranging between eight and 62 years of age. Staff are present 24 hours a day to provide clients with adequate support.
Family Services is the community welfare arm of Sommerville. The role of Family Services is to assist people participate in society at a level to which they aspire and are capable of achieving. Family Services staff work with people of all ages: children, adolescents and adults, and can work with families, couples or individuals. They also assist anyone who is experiencing a crisis or problem with their life. They provide counselling and psycho-therapy, practical, emotional and educative support, financial counselling and short- to medium-term supported accommodation.
Family Services offers advocacy, liaison and referral to other agencies and professionals. While the services offered vary greatly, each has a common theme and that is to empower people to exert control over their lives.
Family Services also operates a service in the Katherine region. This service offers counselling and support for young people aged between 12 and 24 years, and their families. The emphasis is on averting homelessness by means of individual and family counselling, family mediation, group work, advocacy, referral liaison, education outreach and practical support. Access to transitional accommodation is also facilitated, and assistance with locating appropriate long term accommodation can be provided.
Somerville employs approximately 180 staff who work towards its mission, which is ‘to enhance the dignity and quality of life of people most disadvantaged in and damaged by our society’. I am sure all members of this parliament join with me in congratulating Somerville on their work and on the way in which they fulfil that fairly big mission statement. There is a lot attached to it, but they do a fantastic job. The people and the board of Somerville are incredibly committed and they do such good work in our community.
Among the work they do, as I foreshadowed earlier, is the No Interest Loan Scheme. In August 2003, Somerville’s Board of Directors made the decision to launch the No Interest Loan Scheme in the Northern Territory in conjunction with the Ian Potter Foundation, with a capital of $30 000. The scheme has 45 current loans for essential white goods.
The rationale behind the decision by the board to implement the No Interest Loan Scheme was, first, it is virtually impossible for most low income earners to save the full cash price of major household items, such as fridges, washing machines and other essential white goods. Also, low income consumers generally pay the highest rate of interest for credit from mainstream providers, and the high cost of consumer credit for low income consumers has long been recognised as a poverty trap in itself. The Somerville No Interest Loan Scheme provides people on low incomes with flexible and affordable credit for the purchase of basic household whitegoods. Loans can only be used for the purchase of basic household whitegoods, such as those I mentioned earlier.
The philosophy behind the provision of the loans was: to offer low income consumers credit on fair and reasonable terms; to provide low income consumers with access to credit without the burden of high interest charges; a belief that all people should have access to essential household goods for which credit is often a necessity; and, finally, a commitment to an assessment process that includes a determination of the applicant’s capacity to repay the loan.
No interest loans are an alternative form of credit provision. They can also be distinguished from emergency financial assistance programs by their concern to ensure that loan recipients have the capacity to repay the loan. No interest loans are an important part of an holistic response to the needs of low income consumers. The scheme is administered along with the other services offered by Somerville, such as financial counselling.
They are important. I was told anecdotally by staff that as people discharge their loans, there is an incredible feeling of achievement. Some of these people may have had difficulty gaining or regaining a credit rating, and it gives people great self-esteem to fulfil their loan conditions.
All applicants are required to attend an interview to discuss their application. Currently, applicants must reside in the Darwin or Palmerston and outer Darwin area. They must reside in a permanent dwelling and have been at that address for at least six months. Social security recipients holding a current health care card are eligible. Applicants must have the ability and willingness to repay the loan.
The Brotherhood of St Laurence identified the following characteristics of low cost loan schemes operated by community agencies nationally: loans tend to be for small amounts, often less than $1000; the bulk of lending is for purchases that improve the living standards of the household; the typical borrower from community credit agencies is a woman with dependent children living without the support of a partner and renting accommodation from government; the incidence of a significant arrears problem among pensioner and beneficiary borrowers is very low; and, finally, community agencies do not provide credit in isolation - most provide a range of other services, such as financial counselling, consumer advocacy, budgeting and buying advice.
I know the staff of Sommerville are very proud of what they do. I commend Vicki O’Halloran, their CEO, for having launched such a program. It was my pleasure to have supported this great program through the Community Benefit Fund scheme. I commend Sommerville Community Services to the House. We are all aware of the great work that they do.
Finally, picking up on the member for Greatorex and his tirade about effluent overflow from Ilparpa Swamp, I reiterate what I said earlier today: this government has had a plan for effluent overflow from Ilparpa Swamp, something the previous government never did. We opened up a causeway along St Mary’s Creek to alleviate the problem, through negotiations with the native title holders, something else the previous government never did.
What the member for Greatorex omitted to say during his little tirade is that there has been a commitment by this government to eliminate dry weather effluent overflows by the end of this year. In the project that we have invested $6.2m in, which is the Ilparpa Swamp overflow project, much of the work has already been completed. The member for Greatorex well knows that the pipes have been laid, that contracts have been let for some storage facilities at AZRI, and that there are trials underway seeking to recharge the aquifer.
It is mischievous of him to come into this House and pretend that somehow, the government is allowing stagnant effluent to congregate there, with no thought at all for residents; be it at the Old Timers or around Ilparpa Swamp.
This is a government that has addressed this problem. We have invested serious money in it, along with Power and Water, and we are going to get solutions to it. As with many other things that the member for Greatorex does, he clutches at straws; he spins out a line and hopes he gets a bit of coverage in the Alice Springs News or that he can send it out to some constituents. Alice Springs people are not going to be fooled by that. They have seen the pipes go in and the contracts being advertised in the paper. They have been following the project very carefully during the time that this government has been in power, and they know we are addressing the situation, and that it will be solved in time.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016